- Today's Word
Muckraker
[MUHK-ray-ker]
Definition
- (noun) A person, especially a journalist, who investigates and exposes misconduct, corruption, or wrongdoing, particularly by public figures or large organizations. The term often implies a determined effort to uncover and publicize scandalous information.
Example
The persistent muckraker spent months digging through financial records and interviewing sources to expose the corporation’s illegal environmental practices.
Fun Fact
The term “muckraker” was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1906 speech. He borrowed the term from John Bunyan’s book “Pilgrim’s Progress,” where it referred to a man who was so focused on raking muck that he couldn’t look up to see the celestial crown offered to him. Roosevelt used it to describe journalists who were exposing corruption in government and business, initially as a criticism of their focus on negative aspects of society. However, the term was quickly embraced by these investigative journalists as a badge of honor, and it has since become associated with a proud tradition of exposing wrongdoing in the public interest.
(noun) A complicated and confusing situation that is extremely difficult to escape or make progress through.
What began as a simple contract dispute had become a morass of litigation, counter-claims, and procedural delays that no one involved could see the end of.
Morass derives from the Dutch moeras, meaning “marsh” or “swamp,” itself from the Old French marais — “marsh.” It entered English in the 17th century with its literal meaning of boggy, waterlogged ground before quickly acquiring its figurative sense of any situation that traps and exhausts in the same way a physical swamp does — something that looks passable until you’re already in it and discovering that every step forward costs more than the last.