WAY-lay
The journalist was waylaid by a crowd of eager fans before he could enter the conference.
Fun Fact
“Waylay” comes from an old term meaning “to lie in wait,” often referring to highway robbers. While it once had a dangerous connotation, today it’s used more playfully—think of a coworker waylaying you with last-minute questions before you leave for the weekend.
DOHL-ful
(adjective) Expressing sorrow or sadness; mournful.
The dog gave her a doleful look when she left for work without him.
Middle English: from “dole” meaning “grief or sorrow” (from Old French “doel,” from Latin “dolere” meaning “to grieve”) + “-ful.”
Fun Fact
Doleful perfectly captures that particular expression dogs make when they want something—those sad, pleading eyes that suggest profound suffering despite being perfectly fine. The word connects to “condolences” through shared Latin roots in grief and sorrow. Medieval writers loved doleful to describe tragic heroes, mournful songs, and sorrowful landscapes. While sadness has countless synonyms, doleful carries a theatrical quality that makes sorrow almost performative—it’s grief you can see and hear, whether in a hound’s whimper or a poet’s lament.
Today's Word Multitudinous mul-tih-TOO-dih-nus Definition (adjective) Very numerous; existing in...
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