witch hunt The phrase witch hunt is surprisingly recent. One might expect it to date to the seventeenth century, when real hunts for supposed witches were rampant across Europe. But its use in relation to witches only dates to the late nineteenth century and its political use only to the twentieth. And
antifa [“Words in the News” is a weekly, premium feature or Wordorigins.org. I’m making this one available for free because of the word’s overwhelming salience in the current news cycle. If you’d like to see more of these, please upgrade to a paid subscription.] 16 October 2025
Kavanaugh stop Kavanaugh stop is a new term for an arrest or detention by US immigration officials that use racial profiling to identify suspected undocumented immigrants. The term is named after US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh who wrote in a concurrence to the court’s decision in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo
hag The word hag, like the woman it represents, is old, tracing back to Old English, but hag does not appear to be a very common word until the sixteenth century, when it underwent an explosion of usage and popularity. And while today hag simply means an ugly old woman, the
Mecca Mecca is a place name, a toponym, that has acquired a figurative meaning over the years. Literally, it is a city in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, to which devout Muslims are required to undertake a pilgrimage to at some point in their lives. Figuratively, it is
Judeo-Christian Judeo-Christian has two main meanings. The first refers to Jews who have converted to Christianity. The second, and today more common, meaning refers to the common ethical and cultural values of Judaism and Christianity. This second meaning originally grew out of desire for inclusivity, but the term Judeo-Christian is now
medbed [I’ve decided to attempt posting a “Words in the News” premium feature weekly. We’ll see how long I can keep that pace up—and much will depend on how many pay to subscribe to the premium features. I’m making this one free, but future ones will be
deplatform The verb deplatform is a relatively new one. Merriam-Webster defines it thusly: : to remove and ban (a registered user) from a mass communication medium (such as a social networking or blogging website) […] broadly : to prevent from having or providing a platform (see platform entry 1 sense 3) to communicate Merriam-Webster
Calvinball Calvinball is the name of a fictional sport coined by cartoonist Bill Watterston in his syndicated comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. In the strip, Calvinball is a sport where the participants make up the rules as they go along. But the word has not remained within the confines of the
fond The modern adjective fond refers to the quality of having affection, liking, or eagerness for someone or something. But this was not always so. In Middle English fonned could mean foolish or stupid. The verb fonnen meant to be foolish or misguided or to fool or make a fool of
meritocracy A meritocracy is lauded in some circles as the ideal society, where one is rewarded for one’s skill, intelligence, and abilities rather than, for instance, the circumstances of one’s birth. Yet it is worth knowing that the word meritocracy, was originally intended as a description of a dystopian
Ultima Thule / Thule The name Thule has a long history of referring to some distant place. It may be most familiar to English-speakers today as the name of place in Greenland. In 1910, Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen established a trading post with that name at the site the Inuit called Uummannaq (heart-shaped). Subsequently
suborn Suborn is a verb that is usually heard in the context of lying under oath, and indeed roughly half of the instances of the verb in the Corpus of Contemporary American English are in the phrase suborn perjury. The verb clearly means to induce someone to commit a crime, but
