The Words of the Week - Nov. 13
Dictionary lookups from literature, espionage, and Veterans Day
‘Commute’
Lookups for commute rose following news that California governor Gavin Newsom wants to commute the death sentences of all California inmates on death row.
Under the state Constitution, Newsom has the power to commute about 40% of the death sentences on his own. The rest of the cases, which involve prisoners who had a felony conviction on their record prior to receiving a death sentence, or racked up additional crimes while awaiting execution, require approval from the California Supreme Court …
—Taryn Luna, The Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2026
We define the relevant sense of the verb commute as “to change (a penalty) to another less severe.” The word traces back to the Latin commutare, meaning “to change” or “to exchange.”
‘Impeach’
Articles of impeachment were filed against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth this week, leading more people than usual to look up impeach.
In a 211 to 204 vote, House Republicans sidestepped an effort proposed by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to impeach Hegseth. Massie charged that Hegseth was negligent and conducted illegal activity …
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We define the relevant sense of impeach as “to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal with misconduct in office.” The word traces back to the Anglo-French empecher, “to ensnare, impede, prosecute,” and is rooted in the Latin pes, meaning “foot.”
‘Honey trap’
A prominent news story concerning espionage led to a rise in lookups for honey trap.
Former CIA operative Mike Baker said the case appears to be part of a Chinese intelligence “honey trap”—the use of a sexual relationship to gain access to a key American business leader for both influencing U.S. policy and obtaining business or other useful secrets.
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We define honey trap as “a scheme in criminal activity or in espionage that involves using the possibility of a romantic or sexual relationship to lure someone into a compromising position often for the purpose of blackmailing them.” Honey trap can also refer to someone who lures another into a honey trap.
‘Bona fide’
Bona fide appeared in an announcement that M. John Harrison’s novel “The End of Everything” has won this year’s Booker Prize, a major literary award.
Gaby Wood, the prize’s chief executive, said in a news release that it is “the first Booker winner to have emerged from the bona fide S.F. world,” as opposed to past winning books by authors like Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro that “borrowed facets” of science fiction.
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We define the relevant sense of bona fide as “authentic, true, or real.” It comes from Latin where it translates literally to “in good faith.”
‘Armistice’
Armistice was trending on Wednesday, Veterans Day.
Lt. Col. Will Brown was on a mission during World War I that took an unexpected turn. Brown was in southern France with the U.S. Army. He was checking out road conditions as the U.S. and Allies looked to finally defeat Germany and the Central Powers. But his mission changed very quickly. Lt. Col. Brown got official word that the Armistice of November 11, 1918 had taken effect. The war was over and Brown suddenly became a messenger of peace.
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We define armistice as the “temporary stopping of open acts of warfare by agreement between the opponents.” Armistice comes from the New Latin armistitium, which in turn combines a stem of the Latin verb sistere, meaning “to make stand, halt, bring to a standstill,” with arma, meaning “implements of war, weapons.” Armistice, literally, is a cessation of arms. Armistice Day is the name that was given to the holiday celebrated in the United States on November 11 before it was renamed Veterans Day by Congress in 1954. The original name refers to the agreement between the Allied Powers and Germany to end the hostilities that constituted the First World War—an agreement designated to take effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Athwarthawse’
Athwarthawse can be used as both an adverb and an adjective to describe something moving or being “across the cable or stem (of another ship).” It combines athwart (“across”) with hawse, referring to the part of a ship’s bow that contains the hawseholes, holes through which cables pass. Why, landlubbers may be asking, is this word worth knowing? For one, it is clearly a marvel of orthography, but also just think of how your fellow Scrabble players would react if you busted it out, triple word score or no.
On their return to the Downs, while he was ashore visiting the senior officer, there came on so heavy a gale, that almost all the vessels drove, and a storeship came athwarthawse of the “Albemarle.” … She lost her bowsprit and foremast, but escaped further injury.
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