The Words of the Week - Jan. 23
Dictionary lookups from national holidays, solar storms, and Davos
‘Martin Luther King Day’
Lookups for Martin Luther King Day were high this week, as they are each year in late January.
The best part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, for Terry Cook, a deacon at Divine Temple Church of God in Christ, is in the middle, when King responds to those who asked civil rights activists when they will be satisfied. They would not put an end to their desire “until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream,” King said in 1963 and Cook repeated Jan. 19 in his reading of the speech at the church’s 20th annual Martin Luther King Day celebration, one of several events held that day in Green Bay.
—Jesse Lin, The Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette, 20 Jan. 2026
Martin Luther King Day is observed as a legal holiday in the U.S. on the third Monday in January. The federal name for this holiday according to the United States Code is Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
‘GPS’
GPS was looked up more often than usual following the death of pioneering mathematician Gladys West.
A prominent figure in the development of the Global Positioning System and the namesake of Fredericksburg’s newest elementary school died Saturday at the age of 95. Gladys West, a longtime resident of King George County, was nationally recognized for her work in science and mathematics, including her crucial role in the development of GPS.
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We define GPS (short for “Global Positioning System”) as “a navigational system using satellite signals to fix the location of a radio receiver on or above the earth’s surface,” and “the radio receiver so used.”
‘Magnetosphere’
A massive solar storm caused lookups for magnetosphere to (cough) flare.
Dave Byers, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the storm is the result of a large solar flare that occurred Sunday. The flare sent energized protons hurling through space that are expected to reach Earth Monday night. … Byers said energized particles flow through the Earth’s magnetosphere and then energize particles in the atmosphere, causing them to emit light.
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We define magnetosphere as “a region of space surrounding a celestial object (such as a planet or star) that is dominated by the object’s magnetic field so that charged particles are trapped in it.” The term was introduced in 1959 by the Austrian-born physicist Thomas Gold (1920-2004).
‘Hegemon’
The noun hegemon was used prominently in a speech by Canadian prime minister Mark Carney this week at the World Economic Forum, leading to a rise in lookups for both hegemon and hegemony.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says middle-power countries need to stop pretending the rules-based order is still functioning and urged them to rally together against threats from great powers. … Speaking Tuesday in Davos, Carney emphasized the need for coalitions to survive and that negotiating bilaterally with a hegemon leads to weakness and subordination.
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We define hegemon as “something (such as a political state) having dominant influence or authority over others : one possessing hegemony.” Hegemony may be defined as “strong influence or authority over others : domination” or “the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.” Hegemony first appeared in English long before hegemon, though both words have roots in the Greek word hēgemōn, meaning “leader,” which in turn comes from the verb hēgeisthai, “to lead.”
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Tickety-boo’
If you’re a Yank who’s never set foot across the pond you may be unfamiliar with the adjective tickety-boo, but that’s just, well, tickety-boo. Tickety-boo is a chiefly British expression, and is defined in our Unabridged dictionary as a synonym of fine and okay. It comes from a sense of the noun ticket meaning “the correct or desirable thing” (as in “that’s the ticket!”) and the interjection boo.
In the latest series from prolific creator Ryan Murphy, any ordinary schlep can transform into a physically perfect specimen via a revolutionary new drug that makes (in the words of the trailer ) “any old face drop-dead gorgeous”. But if you’ve seen The Substance and remember what happens to Demi Moore, you might suspect things won’t go tickety-boo for those who partake.
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