Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2026 is:

candidate • \KAN-duh-dayt\ • noun

A candidate is someone who aspires to or is nominated or qualified for an office, membership, or award. Candidate may also refer to someone likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for something specified (as in "a candidate for surgery"), or to a student in the process of meeting final requirements for a degree (as in "a PhD candidate").

// The hiring team will select the best candidate for the job.

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Examples:

"Voters can choose up to three of the candidates on their ballot." — Mary Ramsey, The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, 14 Feb. 2026

Did you know?

When a man running for public office in ancient Rome greeted voters in the Forum, the center of judicial and public business, he wore a toga that had been whitened with chalk. As a result, the Latin word for someone seeking office came to be candidātus, meaning literally "clothed in white." Candidātus, in turn, comes from the adjective candidus, meaning "white." Candidātus was adopted into English as candidate, and since the 17th century that word has had an uncontested seat in the language.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2026 is:

satiate • \SAY-shee-ayt\ • verb

To satiate a need, desire, etc., is to satisfy it fully.

// The new restaurant’s menu promises to satiate diners’ cravings for comfort food, offering fresh spins on classic, time-honored fare.

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Examples:

“Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.” — Kaitlyn Huamani and Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press, 3 July 2026

Did you know?

The time has come at last to share the “sad” history of satiate, by which we mean that the two words—sad and satiate—are etymologically connected, not that the details will have you reaching for the tissue box. Both satiate and sad are related to the Latin satis, meaning “enough.” When we say our desire, thirst, curiosity, etc. has been satiated, we mean it has been fully satisfied (satisfy being another satis descendant)—in other words, we’ve had enough. Satiate and sate (believed to be an alteration and shortening of satiate) sometimes imply simple contentment, but often suggest that having enough has dulled interest or desire for more, as in “Years of globe-trotting satiated their interest in travel.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 1, 2026 is:

Pyrrhic • \PEER-ik\ • adjective

The adjective Pyrrhic describes something that is achieved at an excessive cost. It is usually used to describe a victory, a Pyrrhic victory being one that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it.

// The basketball team’s comeback in the final minutes turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory as the star center injured her ankle.

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Examples:

“… where I work, some of my colleagues have suggested that … universities ought to wean themselves off federal grants and become fully fiscally independent; otherwise, they’ll remain too vulnerable to political pressure. This would be a Pyrrhic victory, however, if you believe that robust government funding of research, and of higher education in general, is vital for scientific and social progress.” — David Pozen, The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026

Did you know?

In 306 B.C.E., at the age of twelve, a youth named Pyrrhus took the throne of Epirus, a country in northwestern Greece. Pyrrhus grew to be an aggressive and quarrelsome king, given to warring with his neighbors. In 280 B.C.E., he brought 25,000 men (and a number of elephants) to southern Italy and defeated the Romans at Heraclea, but only after losing many of his soldiers. A year later, he again suffered heavy casualties at Roman hands in a battle at Ausculum. According to Plutarch, when he was congratulated on those victories Pyrrhus replied, “Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone.” The bloody battles of Pyrrhus didn’t find their way into English in the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” until the 1800s, but once it was established Pyrrhic quickly found occupation as an adjective even independent of the phrase, in such constructions as a “Pyrrhic achievement” and “Pyrrhic success.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2026 is:

wraith • \RAYTH\ • noun

Wraith refers to the spirit of a dead person, or in other words, a ghost.

// The most frightening scene from the movie featured a vengeful wraith creeping slowly up behind the main characters.

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Examples:

"Nearly every storyteller knew the legend of the ghostly woman dressed in white, forever searching for her husband. ... Like all good desert legends, the facts shifted with the wind, but the ending was always the same: if you wandered too far into the dunes, you just might hear the wraith calling to her lost husband." — Candice McDonald, The Alamogordo (New Mexico) Daily News, 30 July 2026

Did you know?

If you see your own double, you're in trouble, at least if you believe old superstitions. The belief that a ghostly twin's appearance portends death is one common to many cultures. In German folklore, such an apparition is called a Doppelgänger (literally, "double goer"); in Scottish lore, it is a wraith. The exact origin of the word wraith is misty, however, and etymologists can only trace it back to the early 16th century—in particular to a 1513 translation of Virgil's Aeneid by Gavin Douglas (the Scotsman used wraith to name apparitions of both the dead and the living). Today, wraith may refer broadly to ghost or specter, or figuratively to something regarded as ghostly or insubstantial, as when New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane referred to an actor's "wraith of a mustache."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2026 is:

reticent • \RET-uh-sunt\ • adjective

Someone may be described as reticent if they are feeling or showing reluctance, that is, hesitation or unwillingness to do something. Reticent can also describe someone who is reserved, inclined to be silent or uncommunicative about things.

// The team was reticent to spend such a large amount of money, even for an all-star free agent.

// He’s always been reticent about discussing personal matters at work.

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Examples:

“It can be dangerous and difficult for journalists to report in war zones, and armies are understandably reticent to share details of their location, actions, and future plans.” — Rainey Reitman, Transaction Denied: Big Finance’s Power to Punish Speech, 2026

Did you know?

Use of reticent to mean “reluctant”—though it veers away from the word’s Latin origins in the verb reticēre, meaning “to keep silent”—is well established, and there is no reason to be reticent about employing it. In fact, reticent took on its “reluctant” sense a mere 50 years after first appearing in English in the early 19th century with the meaning “inclined to be silent or uncommunicative.” Though some brows may furrow, the development of reticent’s newer meaning has some logic to it: English speakers first used reticent synonymously with reluctant when the context was speech, as in “he was reticent to talk about his past,” keeping the word close to its “silent” beginnings. Eventually, however, exclusive association with speech was abandoned, and one can now be reticent to do anything, even if it’s to admit that language is not immutable.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2026 is:

shindig • \SHIN-dig\ • noun

Shindig is an informal word for a big party.

// Our friends are in town this weekend, so we’re hosting a shindig at our place on Saturday night.

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Examples:

“It’s the night before Halloween, and a couple of hundred young people dressed up as witches or Labubu toys are dancing at a warehouse-style bar beside a subway station in Brooklyn. But this is no ordinary Halloween shindig.” — Michael Koziol, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 3 Nov. 2025

Did you know?

At a glance, shindig appears to combine shin and dig, and thus might seem to suggest a painful kick to the leg—especially when you know that one of the first senses of shindig in English refers to a gathering at which people dance. It is more likely, however, that shindig is an alteration of shindy, which is itself the alteration of another word, shinny, used of a variation of hockey that is played with a curved stick and a ball or block of wood. It’s not entirely clear how the game of shinny gave shindy its first meaning (the “social gathering with dancing” meaning that is also the original meaning of shindig) but shinny remains the most likely origin.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 28, 2026 is:

grotesque • \groh-TESK\ • adjective

Grotesque describes something that is very strange or ugly in a way that is not normal or natural. It can also describe something that is extremely different from what is expected or usual.

// She opted for a scary Halloween costume, complete with a grotesque monster mask.

// Their claim is a grotesque distortion of the facts.

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Examples:

"At the heart of Mary Shelley's 1818 classic Frankenstein and its many pop culture adaptations is the scene in the mad scientist’s lab where Victor Frankenstein, helped by a bolt of lightning, animates the grotesque figure made out of human and animal parts lying on his anatomy table." — Candida Rifkind, The Winnipeg Free Press, 30 May 2026

Did you know?

During the Italian Renaissance, Romans of culture took a great interest in their country's past and began excavating ancient buildings. During their excavations, they uncovered chambers (known in Italian as grotte, "caves," in reference to their cavelike appearance) decorated with fantastical paintings. The Italian word grottesca became the name for a later but similar type of painting or sculpture depicting fantastic combinations of human and animal forms interwoven with unusual fruits and flowers, and by 1561 it had passed through Middle French into the English noun grotesque. The adjective form of grotesque was first used in the early 17th century to describe the decorative art but is now used to describe anything bizarre, incongruous, or unusual.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 27, 2026 is:

milieu • \meel-YOO\ • noun

Milieu is a formal word that refers to the physical or social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops.

// Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer were among the many writers who flourished in the intellectual milieu of the Harlem Renaissance.

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Examples:

“‘Hombre al Agua’ starts out playful and grows more overtly comic, particularly once politics is thrown into the mix. At one point, a character compares the film’s milieu, the world of the rich, to old sci-fi movies where astronauts land on a planet that looks a lot like earth but turns out to be completely different.” — Steve Pond, The Wrap, 6 Sept. 2026

Did you know?

It’s not difficult to locate another word within the milieu of milieu, whose final four letters spell lieu. Lieu is an archaic word meaning “place,” today used almost exclusively in “in lieu of” (= in the place of), as in “in lieu of cash a credit card is acceptable.” English users borrowed this lieu from Anglo-French—the French language used in medieval England—in the 13th century. It wasn’t until many centuries later, in the mid-1880s, that English adopted milieu from the French spoken in France. (In Old French, milieu meant “midst,” from mi, meaning “middle,” + lieu.) Both milieu and lieu have an ancestor in the Latin word for place, locus, as does many an English word, including locate.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2026 is:

disparate • \DISS-puh-rut\ • adjective

Disparate things are noticeably distinct from one another in quality or character. Disparate can also describe something that contains or is made up of fundamentally different and often incongruous elements.

// The orchestral project joins disparate musical elements to create a truly original sound.

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Examples:

"Some of the spacious galleries feature a single artist ... one is devoted to murals, another to architecture, but many are organized by themes rather than genre, period, place or, and this is important, prestige. Thematic grouping of disparate work has become a popular, though not uncontroversial, trend." — Mary McNamara, The Los Angeles Times, 3 Sept. 2026

Did you know?

If you enjoy sorting different objects into separate categories, you're well prepared to understand the origins of disparate. The word, which first appeared in English in the 16th century, comes from the Latin verb disparāre, meaning "to divide, separate off, make different." Disparāre, in turn, comes from parāre, a verb meaning "to supply, provide, make ready or prepare." Other descendants of parāre in English include both separate and prepare, as well as repair, apparatus, and even the pugnacious vituperate ("to criticize harshly and usually publicly").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2026 is:

emissary • \EM-uh-sair-ee\ • noun

Emissary refers to a person who is sent on a mission to represent another person or organization.

// Emissaries from the government are trying to negotiate a settlement.

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Examples:

“Brian [Jones] had enjoyed being in control of the band. He’d arranged their gigs, negotiated their deals, served as their spokesman; he was their emissary with the press, making regular visits to Record Mirror and Melody Maker.” — Bob Spitz, The Rolling Stones: The Biography, 2026

Did you know?

If you’re a big cheese or big kahuna, you may often find yourself too crunched for time to meet face-to-face with your fellow bigwigs, let alone the hoi polloi. In such cases, a good solution is to send out an emissary, someone to act as your representative and shake the necessary hands, grease the necessary palms, etc. The operative phrase here is “send out”; emissary comes from Latin emittere, meaning “to send out.” When emissary was first adopted in the early 17th century, it typically emitted bad vibes (emit also hails from emittere), carrying the implication that the business of an emissary was dishonest or corrupt. But today, that connotation has faded completely, and emissaries are those simply sent to act on someone's behalf.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 24, 2026 is:

puissant • \PWISS-unt\ • adjective

Puissant is a synonym of powerful used to describe something with puissance—that is, strength or power.

// The creatures in her fantasy novel are wielders of puissant magic, able to strike down enemies by harnessing the power of weather phenomena like lightning and tornadoes.

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Examples:

“The show is light on tech, but the accompanying images … pour through as addendums to Felder's puissant passion of Liszt's Liebesträume or Beethoven's Für Elise and land with great effect.” — David John Chávez, The Mercury News (San Jose, California), 1 Feb. 2026

Did you know?

Puissant has some powerful ties to some more commonplace English words. Although puissant has a considerably fancier feel than power and potent, all three words share the same Latin ancestor: posse, a verb meaning “to be able.” Potent came from potent-, potens, a form of posse. Power came to us by way of Anglo-French poer, which itself comes from an alteration of posse. From poer also came the Anglo-French adjective pussant, meaning “able” or “powerful,” and English speakers borrowed that to form puissant in the 15th century.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 23, 2026 is:

asunder • \uh-SUN-der\ • adverb or adjective

Asunder is most often used as an adverb—often with a verb such as tear or rip—to mean "apart" or "into pieces." It is more rarely used as an adjective meaning "apart from each other," as in "standing with legs wide asunder."

// The park was torn asunder by yesterday's microburst, and many of its trails have been blocked by fallen trees.

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Examples:

"We cannot see erosion but we know it happens. [Artist Harrison] Bowe's work is filled with hints of vastness, but he's also pointing to how water might carve a mountain asunder." — Andrew Harper, Hobart Mercury (Australia), 6 Dec. 2025

Did you know?

To get to the root of today’s word, it helps to take it apart and focus on the sunder. You see, asunder comes from the verb sunder, which means "to break apart" or "to become parted, disunited, or severed." Both words come from the Old English word sundor, meaning "apart." The adverbial "into parts" sense of asunder is often used in the phrase "tear asunder," which can be used both literally (as in "fabric torn asunder") and, more often, figuratively (as in "a community torn asunder by the dispute"). The adjectival "apart from each other" sense can be found in the phrase "poles asunder," used to describe two things that are as vastly far apart as the poles of the Earth.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 22, 2026 is:

vocation • \voh-KAY-shun\ • noun

Vocation can refer simply to an occupation, or it can refer to a strong calling to pursue a particular kind of work or course of action.

// Since he was a teenager, he knew that he would find his vocation in marine biology.

// She is headed to medical school to pursue her vocation as a doctor.

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Examples:

“Through her education and her father’s encouragement, she had nurtured a vocation for literature and was determined to make a career for herself in the bundan, Japan’s literary elite …” — Bryan Karetnyk, introduction to Troubled Waters by Higuchi Ichiyō, 2026

Did you know?

When vocation was first used in English in the 15th century it referred specifically to a summons from God to perform a particular task or function in life, especially a religious one. This meaning is no surprise given the word’s source: it comes from the Latin vocation-, vocacio, meaning “summons,” which in turn comes from vocāre, meaning “to call.” Vocation also has a non-religious function in the English language as a word for the strong desire to do a certain kind of work, or as a word for the work itself, making vocation a synonym of the words calling and occupation.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2026 is:

jilt • \JILT\ • verb

To jilt someone is usually to abruptly end a romantic relationship with them. Jilt is also applied to various kinds of abrupt rejection.

// The novel begins with the hero, having just been jilted by his fiancée, setting off to hike the Appalachian Trail.

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Examples:

“The set suggests Miss Havisham’s room in her estate, which was famously frozen in time from the moment her fiancé jilted her in the Dickens novel, but that’s simply the frame for a behind-the-scenes view into all of the elements ... that go into an actor’s effort to bring a character to life on stage.” — Terry Byrne, The Boston Globe, 20 May 2026

Did you know?

What’s in a name? Often, something not very nice, through no fault and much to the chagrin of those bearing that name. Just ask Ralph or Karen. The same is (possibly) true of Gillot, an old pet form of Gillian that is thought to have led to the noun jillet, which originally referred to an unfaithful wife, and later became jilt, used in the late 17th century for a person (especially a woman) who capriciously casts a lover aside. The verb jilt followed for the actions of such a person. These days, though jilt usually implies the sudden ending of a romantic relationship, it can also be used beyond that context with the broader meaning “to sever close relations with.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 20, 2026 is:

compunction • \kum-PUNK-shun\ • noun

Compunction refers to a feeling of misgiving, that is, doubt or suspicion especially concerning a future event. It can also refer to a feeling of guilt or regret. The word is typically used in negative constructions.

// We moved ahead with the plans without compunction.

// They felt no compunctions about their crimes.

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Examples:

"As a younger man, he tried to finish everything he started. But today he drops a book without compunction if he's extracted what he needed or lost interest." — Jim Higgins, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 21 Dec. 2025

Did you know?

According to an old proverb, "a guilty conscience needs no accuser." The implication is that the sting of a guilty conscience can prick very hard indeed. The sudden guilty "prickings" of compunction are reflected in the word's Latin roots: compungere means "to prick hard" or "to sting." Compungere, in turn, comes from pungere, meaning "to prick," which is the ancestor of some other prickly words in English, such as puncture and point.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 19, 2026 is:

fervid • \FER-vid\ • adjective

Fervid is used to describe people or things that express or are expressive of strong feelings.

// The core of the book is the fervid letters the friends exchanged during the years they were apart.

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Examples:

“Fervid superfans of high-profile groups often pore over members’ appearances, performances, and private lives. Perceived ‘bad’ behavior such as smoking or drinking can earn widespread public backlash, forcing stars to live under strict rules.” — Jessie Yeung, CNN, 16 Jan. 2026

Did you know?

The metaphor of strong emotions bubbling over simmers in the roots of fervid, which comes from the Latin verb fervēre, meaning “to boil.” In English, this root gave us not only fervid but the similar-sounding and sometimes synonymous word fervent. But while fervid usually suggests warm emotion that is expressed in a spontaneous or feverish manner (as in “fervid basketball fans”), fervent is reserved for a kind of emotional warmth that is steady and sincere (as in “a fervent belief in human kindness”). Fervid fans of kimchi or sauerkraut (or fervent followers of anything fermented), may appreciate that fervēre is also the root of ferment.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 18, 2026 is:

bon vivant • \bahn-vee-VAHNT\ • noun

A bon vivant is a sociable person who has refined tastes especially with respect to food and drink.

// She has become something of a bon vivant since moving to Paris, going out most nights and delighting in the city's many restaurants.

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Examples:

“The vineyard is named for the exiled French aristocrat Charles de Saint-Évremond, a symbol of hedonistic Anglo-French cooperation. The bon vivant introduced champagne to England and party-loving Charles II made him governor of Duck Island in St James’s Park.” — Phoebe Taplin, The Guardian (London), 12 Sept. 2026

Did you know?

In French, bon vivant literally means “good liver”—that is, one who lives well. English speakers have used bon vivant since the late 17th century to refer specifically to those who subscribe to a particular kind of good living—one that involves lots of social engagements and the enjoyment of fancy food and drink. This puts the term very much in the company of some other French words. Gourmet, gourmand, and gastronome all refer to those who love a fancy meal, though gourmand often carries the connotation of a tendency to overindulge.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 17, 2026 is:

syncretic • \sin-KRET-ik\ • adjective

Syncretic describes things that are characterized or brought about by a combination of different forms of belief or practice.

// We were raised with a syncretic religion that combined practices from various faiths.

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Examples:

"Traditional medicine, wellness rituals, and spiritual practices reflect the island’s complex cultural history and diverse ethnic origins—a syncretic blending of Taíno Indigenous, African, and Spanish traditions." — Tiana Randall, Forbes, 20 Aug. 2026

Did you know?

Syncretic has its roots in an ancient alliance. The word is a descendant of the Greek noun synkrētismos, referring to a federation of cities on the island of Crete (syn means "together, with," and Krēt- means "Cretan"). The adjective first appeared in English in the mid-19th century, the related noun syncretism having debuted over 200 years earlier. Syncretic retains the idea of coalition and appears in such contexts as "syncretic religions," "syncretic cultures," and even "syncretic art," all describing things influenced by two or more styles or traditions.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 16, 2026 is:

zenith • \ZEE-nith\ • noun

Zenith refers to the strongest or most successful period of time for a person or thing.

// At its zenith in the 1980s, the company employed more than 300 people.

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Examples:

“The opening 40 minutes of Trần Anh Hùng’s dreamy romance set in the 1889 French countryside are the zenith of food preparation on the big screen. ... Food is a love language for many, and watching Pauline prepare a Baked Alaska in the hot French summer without a freezer expresses her affection better than any sonnet could.” — Kevin Slane, Boston.com, 15 Aug. 2026

Did you know?

When you reach the zenith, you’re at the top, the pinnacle, the summit, the peak. Zenith developed from a Spanish modification of an Arabic phrase meaning “the way over one’s head,” traveling through Medieval Latin and Middle French before arriving in English. As long ago as the 1300s, English speakers used zenith to name the highest point in the celestial heavens, directly overhead. By the 1600s, zenith was being used for other high points as well. The celestial term is often contrasted with nadir, which refers to the point that is vertically downward from the observer (imagine a line going through the Earth from the observer’s feet and out the other side into the sky). Figuratively, nadir simply means “the lowest point.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 15, 2026 is:

outlandish • \out-LAN-dish\ • adjective

Outlandish can describe things that are strikingly strange or unusual; in this use, it’s a synonym of bizarre. Outlandish can also describe things, such as claims, rumors, and accusations, that go beyond reasonable limits or standards.

// One of the author’s greatest strengths is her ability to write outlandish characters whose quirks remain lodged in readers’ minds long after they’ve finished the book.

// When asked to back up his outlandish claims, the mayor quickly changed the subject, all but admitting that he had no proof for his allegations.

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Examples:

“In a successful book for children, no matter what outlandish stuff might be happening on the page, young readers will see their real emotions faithfully represented there ...” — Caroline Carson, Literary Hub, 3 Aug. 2026

Did you know?

For some, the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side of the fence—it may also be very, very strange. The side-eye that skeptical sorts cast toward visitors from parts yonder is embedded in the history of the ancient word outlandish. In Old English someone described as “outlandish” came from an outland, i.e., a foreign land. Within a few hundred years, outlandish had broadened in use to describe anything unfamiliar or strange. It’s now commonly applied to things—especially things people do, wear, or say—that are strikingly out of the ordinary, or even just beyond reasonable or proper limits or standards. But lest you mistake us for equating outlandish with wrong or bad, consider this line from a review of a Dr. Seuss book once published in Time: “Its illustrations are properly outlandish, and its verses are zany and catchy enough for many rereadings.”