Word of the Day

noun

Nathan is possessed of a nimiety of get-rich-quick schemes, combined with a paucity of common sense.

"Despite the nimiety of blue lighting and an issue over microphone levels, this was a wonderfully gentle evening of poignant country and folk poetry set to simple melodies that go round and round in your brain." — From a concert review by Jon Bennett in The Bristol Post, March 18, 2013

There's no scarcity of English words used for too much of a good thing—words like "overkill," "plethora," "superfluity," "surfeit," "surplus," and "preponderance." In fact, you might just feel that "nimiety" itself is a bit superfluous. It's true that we've never used the word excessively, though it has been part of our language for nearly 450 years. (We borrowed it from Late Latin "nimietas," a noun taken, in turn, from the Latin adjective "nimius," meaning "excessive.") But though "nimiety" is far from overused, it does turn up occasionally and can be considered a valid addition to any writer or reader's vocabulary.

Test Your Memory: What is the meaning of "undergird," our Word of the Day from November 12? The answer is …

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