Today's Word

Trepidation

[trep-i-DAY-shun]

Definition

(noun) A feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen. It describes a state of nervous uncertainty or apprehension about a future event or situation.

Example

As she approached the stage to give her first public speech, Sarah felt a sense of trepidation, her heart racing and palms sweating.

Fun Fact

The word “trepidation” comes from the Latin word “trepidare,” meaning “to tremble.” In medieval astronomy, it was used to describe a hypothetical oscillation of the heavens, believed to account for certain irregularities in the precession of the equinoxes. This astronomical use is now obsolete, but it shows how words can shift in meaning over time. Today, “trepidation” is primarily used to describe emotional states rather than celestial movements.

Previous Words

Lassitude

Today's Word

Lassitude

LAS-ih-tood

Definition

(noun) A state of physical or mental weariness; a pervasive lack of energy or enthusiasm that resists ordinary efforts at recovery.

Example

The weeks after the project ended left her in a lassitude she hadn’t anticipated — the adrenaline gone, the purpose gone, the energy to find either absent.

Word Origin

Lassitude derives from the Latin lassitudo, meaning “weariness” or “faintness,” from lassus — “tired” or “faint.” The same root gives us alas — an exclamation of weariness and resignation — and is related to the Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to let go” or “to slacken.” It entered English in the 16th century, used in medical contexts to describe a specific symptom — profound, pervasive tiredness that resisted rest — before expanding into its broader sense of a weariness that goes deeper than sleep can reach.

Fun Fact

Post-event lassitude — the profound exhaustion that follows the completion of a major goal — is well documented in psychology and goes by several names depending on context. Athletes call it post-Olympic depression; surgeons describe it after long operations; writers report it after finishing books. The phenomenon reflects a neurological reality: sustained high performance depletes dopamine and norepinephrine reserves faster than ordinary rest replenishes them, producing a lassitude that feels disproportionate to the circumstances. The cruel irony is that the more successfully you achieve something, the more completely the achievement hollows you out — which is either a design flaw in human neurochemistry or a very efficient argument for having a next project ready.

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Trepidation

Definition

Example

Previous Words

Lassitude

Lassitude

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Lassitude

Wheedle

Callow

Pernicious

Derivation