Today's Word

Florid

FLOR-id

Definition

(adjective) Having a red or flushed complexion; or overly elaborate and showy in style.

Example

The florid writing style distracted from the simplicity of the message.

Word Origin

Late Middle English: from Latin floridus ‘flowery’, from flos, flor- meaning “flower.”

Fun Fact

Florid can describe both rosy cheeks and flowery prose—but it’s not always a compliment. In architecture, speech, and writing, it often suggests ornate excess—decorative language, frilly detail, or too much embellishment. Think Victorian wallpaper, overwritten novels, or grandiose speeches. But when used well, a florid touch can feel rich, romantic, or poetic.

Previous Words

Stultify

Today's Word

Stultify

STUL-tih-fy

Definition

(verb) To cause someone or something to appear foolish or absurd; to cause to lose enthusiasm or initiative through tedium or restrictive routine

Example

Years of mindless data entry had stultified what was once one of the sharpest minds in the department.

Word Origin

Stultify derives from the Latin stultus (“foolish”) + facere (“to make”) — literally “to make foolish.” It entered English in the 18th century first as a legal term, describing the act of making oneself appear incompetent in order to avoid legal responsibility, before broadening to its modern sense of dulling or deadening the mind through boredom or oppressive routine.

Fun Fact

The legal origin of stultify is one of the stranger chapters in English legal history. In early common law, a person could “plead stultification” — essentially arguing that they were too mentally incompetent to be held to a contract or obligation. The catch was that making this plea also meant publicly declaring oneself a fool, which courts found so inherently contradictory and self-defeating that the plea was eventually abolished. The broader modern meaning — to deaden or suppress through tedium — retains that original flavor of something being made smaller and more foolish than it ought to be.

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Florid

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Previous Words

Stultify

Stultify

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Stultify

Exegesis

Apposite

Turgid

Polemical