May 2026 ELA Word of the Day

Accolade (noun)

• Definition: An expression of praise or admiration; an award or privilege granted as a special honor.
• Sentence: Receiving the national writing award was the highest accolade of her literary career.

Acquiesce (verb)

• Definition: To accept something reluctantly but without protest.
• Sentence: Though she disagreed with the majority, she chose to acquiesce to the committee’s final decision.

Asceticism (noun)

• Definition: Severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
• Sentence: He practiced a rigorous asceticism, living on bread and water in a small, remote cabin.

Assiduous (adjective)

• Definition: Showing great care, attention, and perseverance.
• Sentence: The student’s assiduous study habits paid off, and he earned a perfect score on the exam.

Capacious (adjective)

• Definition: Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
• Sentence: The new backpack was surprisingly capacious, holding all his books and camping gear.

Castigate (verb)

• Definition: To reprimand someone severely.
• Sentence: The principal chose to publicly castigate the student caught cheating on the final exam.

Delineate (verb)

• Definition: To describe or portray something precisely.
• Sentence: The architect must delineate the floor plan in great detail before construction begins.

Disabuse (verb)

• Definition: To persuade someone that an idea or belief is mistaken.
• Sentence: The professor tried to disabuse his students of the notion that writing a good essay is easy.

Effusive (adjective)

• Definition: Expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.
• Sentence: They offered effusive thanks for the unexpected and generous gift.

Enjoin (verb)

• Definition: To instruct or urge someone to do something; to prohibit or restrain by an injunction.
• Sentence: The court issued an order to enjoin the construction of the new tower near the protected habitat.

Epistolary (adjective)

• Definition: Relating to or denoting the writing of letters or literary works in the form of letters.
• Sentence: The novel’s unusual structure made it an excellent example of epistolary fiction.

Extricate (verb)

• Definition: To free someone or something from a constraint or difficulty.
• Sentence: It took hours for the rescue team to extricate the trapped climber from the narrow crevice.

Impute (verb)

• Definition: To attribute or ascribe something, especially a fault or crime, to someone.
• Sentence: The failure of the project was unfairly imputed to the young manager.

Incorrigible (adjective)

• Definition: (Of a person or their tendencies) not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed.
• Sentence: The boy was an incorrigible prankster, always getting into trouble despite numerous warnings.

Insolent (adjective)

• Definition: Showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect.
• Sentence: The child was sent to the principal’s office for his insolent behavior toward the teacher.

Jocund (adjective)

• Definition: Cheerful and lighthearted.
• Sentence: The medieval feast was a lively, jocund affair with music and dancing.

Lachrymose (adjective)

• Definition: Tearful or given to weeping; inducing tears.
• Sentence: The drama club performed a particularly lachrymose tragedy about star-crossed lovers.

Lambaste (verb)

• Definition: To criticize someone or something harshly.
• Sentence: The editorial chose to lambaste the state legislature for their inaction on the environmental crisis.

Lineaments (noun)

• Definition: Distinctive features or characteristics, especially of the face.
• Sentence: The artist carefully sketched the delicate lineaments of the model’s face.

Liturgy (noun)

• Definition: A form or formulary according to which public religious worship, especially Christian worship, is conducted.
• Sentence: The ancient liturgy of the church had remained largely unchanged for centuries.

Mendicant (noun/adjective)

• Definition: A beggar; (adjective) given to begging.
• Sentence: The medieval city streets were often crowded with mendicant friars.

Numinous (adjective)

• Definition: Having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity.
• Sentence: Standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, she felt a profound sense of the numinous.

Peculate (verb)

• Definition: To embezzle or steal money, especially public funds, for one’s own use.
• Sentence: The official was arrested for attempting to peculate millions of dollars from the city’s pension fund.

Perfidious (adjective)

• Definition: Deceitful and untrustworthy.
• Sentence: The spy was executed for his perfidious actions against his own country.

Presage (verb)

• Definition: To be a sign or warning that something (typically bad) will happen; to foreshadow.
• Sentence: The dark, swirling clouds seemed to presage a terrible storm.

Prodigal (adjective)

• Definition: Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
• Sentence: The family was ruined by the father’s prodigal habits and gambling debts.

Profligate (adjective)

• Definition: Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.
• Sentence: He was known as a profligate spender, always buying the most expensive items without regard for cost.

Reticence (noun)

• Definition: The quality of being reserved; the state of being unwilling to speak about one’s thoughts or feelings.
• Sentence: His reticence on the subject made the interviewer suspicious of his true motives.

Salubrious (adjective)

• Definition: Health-giving; healthy; (of a place) pleasant; not run-down.
• Sentence: The mountain air was clean and wonderfully salubrious for the recovering patients.

Sardonic (adjective)

• Definition: Grimly mocking or cynical.
• Sentence: The teacher responded to the student’s weak excuse with a sardonic laugh.

Venerable (adjective)

• Definition: Accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character.
• Sentence: The town sought advice from the venerable elder statesman regarding the new law.