The Words of the Week - May 29
Dictionary lookups from jazz, basketball, and the Vatican
Photo: Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images
‘Encyclical’
Pope Leo’s first encyclical drove lookups for the word encyclical.
In the new encyclical, titled “Magnifica Humanitas,” or “Magnificent Humanity,” Leo struck a similar tone, warning of the new threat to workers posed by artificial intelligence.
—Mokoto Rich et al., The New York Times, 26 May 2026
We define encyclical as “a papal letter to the bishops of the church as a whole or to those in one country.” The word traces back through Late Latin to the Greek enkyklios, meaning “circular, general.”
‘Colossus’
The death of legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins prompted higher-than-usual lookups for colossus.
Known as the “Saxophone Colossus,” Rollins’ career spanned seven decades during which he recorded more than sixty albums. He was honored with numerous awards, including receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004, as well as a National Medal of Arts in 2010, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2011.
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We define the relevant sense of colossus as “a person or thing of immense size or power.” The original colossi (notice the plural form) were the larger-than-life statues made by the Greeks and Romans. The most famous of these was the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of the sun god Helios built on the Greek island of Rhodes around 280 B.C. that was over 100 feet tall and took more than 12 years to build. The Statue of Liberty is a modern colossus, enormous and stately, at the entrance to New York Harbor. And someone who has played a colossal role in music history, such as Sonny Rollins, may be called a colossus as well.
‘Disregard’
Disregard trended when a search engine glitch went viral over the weekend.
Starting this month, users began noticing that looking up certain words returned bizarre, AI-garbled answers instead of showing you the proper dictionary definition—something Google has been doing for decades without a hitch, but is now suddenly breaking down with its infusion of AI. In one viral example, when a user looked up “disregard” the AI replied like it was an instruction.
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We define the verb disregard as “to pay no attention to : treat as unworthy of regard or notice.” Disregard is also used as a noun (as in “a complete disregard for the rules”) to refer to the act of treating someone or something as unworthy of regard or notice.
‘Debbie Downer’
A story about Rachel Dratch and her nomination for a Tony Award led to a rise in lookups for Debbie Downer.
‘Debbie Downer’ Is Enjoying an Upswing
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Debbie Downer is an informal word for a negative or pessimistic person, a person who speaks only of the bad or depressing aspects of something and lessens the enthusiasm or pleasure of others. The word was popularized, if not introduced, on Saturday Night Live as the name of a comedic skit character—created by Rachel Dratch and Paula Pell and played by Dratch—who snuffs the light out of every conversation with reports and reminiscences that are, indeed, total downers. Debbie Downer was added to our dictionary in 2019 after years of sustained usage outside of references to the comedy sketch.
I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but we don’t believe we’re done.
—We were working on a record once … and he was a Debbie Downer and ruining the vibe.
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‘Rout’
Rout trended on Tuesday morning, possibly due to its use in articles about an NBA playoff game.
… the New York Knicks routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 Monday night to complete a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
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We define the relevant sense of the verb rout as “to defeat decisively or disastrously.” There is also a related sense of the noun rout, from which the verb derived, meaning “a disastrous defeat.” Rout is a borrowing of the Middle French word route, meaning “defeat, disorderly retreat,” which can be traced back to the Latin verb rumpere, meaning “to break, smash.” Knick, we will note, is a shortening of Knickerbocker, used to refer to a descendent of the early Dutch settlers of New York, or more broadly, as a nickname for a native or resident of the city or state of New York. The word was first used in the early 1800s, and comes from the name Diedrich Knickerbocker, fictitious author of History of New York (1809) by Washington Irving.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Mackle’
The word mackle is not (at all) especially common, but we don’t doubt that you’ve encountered a mackle more than once in your reading life. We define both noun and verb forms of mackle in our Unabridged dictionary. The noun refers to a blur or double impression on a printed sheet, as due to the paper shifting slightly during the printing process. The verb is a synonym of blur meaning “to obscure or blemish by smearing.” Both come from the French macule, meaning “spot, stain,” which in turn comes from the Latin macula, “spot, stain.” Neither sees much use in everyday parlance—even in the good old days it was largely restricted to printing industry publications. It’s a testament to modern technology that we don’t see mackle more.
Paper should be wetted down at least twelve hours before it is required for use. If it is inclined to mackle or crease it must be “turned,” and, if possible, put into a standing press for some time.
—A pressman who knows how to prevent a mackle … once knows how to prevent it always …
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