- Today's Word
Bedraggled
[ bih-drag-uhld ]
Definition
“Bedraggled” is an adjective used to describe something, often clothing or a person’s appearance, that is wet, dirty, or untidy due to being dragged through mud, water, or a similar substance. It can also be used metaphorically to describe something that appears disheveled or in poor condition.
Example
The old, abandoned house had a bedraggled appearance, with broken windows and overgrown weeds in the yard. In this example, “bedraggled” is used metaphorically to describe the neglected and deteriorating state of the house’s exterior.
Fun Fact
The term “bedraggled” is derived from the Old English word “draggan,” meaning “to drag.” It originally referred to something or someone that had been dragged through mud or water, resulting in a disheveled or wet appearance.
(adjective) Devoid of intelligence, substance, or meaningful content; empty in a way that is made worse by the appearance of fullness.
The panel discussion was so vacuous — four articulate people saying nothing of substance for ninety minutes — that the audience left feeling vaguely cheated by their own attention.
Vacuous derives from the Latin vacuus, meaning “empty” or “void,” rooted in vacare — “to be empty” or “to be free.” The same root gives us vacuum, vacant, vacation — all words built around the idea of emptiness or absence. It entered English in the 17th century, initially used in scientific contexts to describe a literal vacuum before acquiring its cutting figurative sense of a mind or expression that contains nothing worth engaging with.