The Words of the Week - Jul 3
Dictionary lookups from tennis, climate, and the Supreme Court
John Walton - PA Images
‘Queen’
Queen was looked up more often than usual this week, likely in connection with the return of Serena Williams to Wimbledon.
The World Cup moves into the knockout stage, and Queen Serena returns to Wimbledon. What a week.
—Scott Simon, NPR: Weekend Edition, 27 June 2026
The queen of tennis made a shock comeback at Queen’s, playing doubles with Victoria Mboko, and she looked pretty good as they won their first match.
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We define many senses of the word queen, most relevant among them “a woman eminent in rank, power, or attractions.” The word traces back to the Old English cwēn (“woman, wife, queen”).
‘GOAT’
GOAT also enjoyed high lookups this week in connection with Serena Williams.
She’s [Serena Williams] the GOAT no matter what happens.
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Used as both an abbreviation and a noun, GOAT (less commonly styled G.O.A.T.) refers to someone who is the “greatest of all time” at something, or in other words, the most accomplished and successful individual in the history of a particular sport or category of performance or activity. GOAT has been in use with this meaning since at least the late 1990s. More recently, GOAT has spawned the slangy adjective GOATED (or goated or less commonly GOATed), used to describe someone or something considered to be the greatest of all time.
‘Uphold’
Lookups for uphold spiked on Tuesday in relation to decisions by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Constitution’s promise that all those born here are citizens of the United States, regardless of the status of their parents.
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We define the relevant sense of the verb uphold, used in law, as “to judge to be valid, to let stand.” The oldest sense of uphold, which dates back to the 13th century and is still in use today, is “to give support to,” as in “uphold a tradition” or “uphold the Constitution.”
‘Schism’
News out of the Vatican drove lookups for schism on Thursday morning.
Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops and invalidates sacraments
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We define the sense of schism in use here as “formal division in or separation from a church or religious body.” In religious contexts schism can also refer to the offense of promoting such division or separation. The word is also used broadly in the secular world as a synonym for division and separation, as well as discord and disharmony. It can be traced back in part to the Greek verb schízein, meaning “to split, separate.”
‘Heat dome’
Scorching weather in the United States and Europe drove lookups for heat dome.
By Wednesday, a “giant ridge of high pressure” will be moving in from the Southwest, according to Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist with weather service’s Upton office. Forecasters called the phenomenon a “heat dome.”
—The WWA team used both observed and reliable forecast temperature data to analyse the hottest three-day period across a large area of western Europe, which is sitting under a “heat dome.” Using peer-reviewed methods, they found unequivocally that climate change was the driving force behind the severity of the heat.
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Heat dome refers to a large weather pattern characterized by high atmospheric pressure that collects and holds an unusual amount of heat over a particular area. Its earliest known use in English dates to the mid-1980s.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Nidor’
Nidor is defined in our Unabridged dictionary as “a strong smell; especially : the smell of cooking or burning meat or fat.” It’s an uncommon word, and not always used approvingly. It’s also the source of nidorosity, defined in Samuel Johnson’s 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language as “eructation with the taste of undigested roast-meat.” Nidorosity is also not an everyday word, but both words may be useful on the many holidays that involve grilling. Samuel Johnson was an undisputed giant of lexicography, a man of immense learning and literary acumen, and perhaps the first person to single-handedly edit a great dictionary. He also provided an entry for a word that basically means “meat-burp.” We all contain multitudes.
… the uncovered dishes send forth a nidor and hungry smells …
—Some, apparently purely technical, medical words of the eighteenth century have gone out of use entirely, for example … “Nidorosity; eructation with the taste of undigested raw [sic] meat.” Modern students of medicine should learn from this what close observers those old fellows were, and how they used their smellers …
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