vuh-RASS-ih-tee
(noun) Conformity to facts; habitual truthfulness.
The reporter’s veracity was trusted even during politically charged investigations.
Fun Fact
Veracity comes from Latin verus (“true”) and differs slightly from “truth”—it’s about consistent accuracy and honesty. In journalism, science, and law, veracity is not just ideal—it’s essential. Questioning someone’s veracity can challenge their credibility entirely.
WOHNT (rhymes with “don’t”)
(noun/adjective) A habitual or customary practice; accustomed to behaving in a particular way.
As was her wont, she arrived twenty minutes early and rearranged the furniture before anyone else showed up.
From Old English gewunod, past participle of gewunian (“to be accustomed”), related to wunian (“to dwell, to remain”). The word shares a root with “won” (archaic past tense of “to dwell”) and is distantly related to the modern German wohnen (“to live, to dwell”). A wont is something you dwell in — a habit so settled it becomes a kind of home.
Fun Fact
“Wont” is one of the most consistently misused words in English — it’s regularly confused with “won’t” (the contraction of “will not”) simply because they sound identical in many accents. Despite this, “wont” has survived in literary and formal writing for over a thousand years, appearing in Shakespeare, Milton, and Austen. It’s also one of the few words in English that functions as a noun, adjective, and past participle without changing its form at all — a linguistic Swiss Army knife that most people have never noticed.
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