Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 20, 2011 is:

kerfuffle • \ker-FUFF-ul\  • noun
: disturbance, fuss

Examples:
Predictably, the royal scandal caused quite a kerfuffle on Fleet Street.

"If the kerfuffle over last week's Point Taken blog pointed out anything, it's that there is still a large amount of discord between automobile drivers and bicyclists." -- From an editorial in the Louisville (Kentucky) Courier-Journal, July 4, 2011

Did you know?
"Fuffle" was first used in Scottish English, as early as the 16th century, as a verb meaning "to dishevel." The addition of the prefix "car-" (possibly derived from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning "wrong" or "awkward") didn't change the meaning of the word considerably. In the 19th century "carfuffle," with its variant "curfuffle," became a noun, and in the mid-20th century it was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to "kerfuffle." There is some dispute among language historians over how the altered spelling came to be favored. One theory holds that it might have been influenced by imitative words like "kerplunk," where the syllable "ker-" is simply added for emphasis.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 19, 2011 is:

ungainly • \un-GAYN-lee\  • adjective
1 a : lacking in smoothness or dexterity : clumsy b : hard to handle : unwieldy 2 : having an awkward appearance

Examples:
The futon mattress was heavy and ungainly, without any straps to hold onto, and the two roommates struggled to carry it up the stairs.

"This fall collection was an '80s-inspired kaleidoscope of chaotic colors, awkward ball gowns, ungainly architectural silhouettes, and even a puzzling homage to the clown Pierrot, complete with pointy little hat." -- From an article by Robin Givhan in Newsweek, July 18, 2011

Did you know?
What do you have to gain by knowing the root of "ungainly?" Plenty. The "gain" in "ungainly" is an obsolete English adjective meaning "direct," ultimately derived from the Old Norse preposition "gegn," meaning "against." (The unrelated verb "gain" came to English by way of Anglo-French and is related to an Old High German word meaning "to hunt for food.") "Ungainly" can describe someone who’s clumsy (as in "a tall and ungainly man"), or something that causes you to feel clumsy when you try to handle it (as in "a car with ungainly controls"), or something that simply looks awkward and out of place (as in "an ungainly strip mall").

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odoriferous: yielding or diffusing an odor.

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conglobate: to form into a ball.

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runic: having some secret or mysterious meaning.

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purloin: to take dishonestly; steal.

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jointure: property given to a woman upon marriage, to be owned by her after her husband's death.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 17, 2011 is:

toplofty • \TAHP-lawf-tee\  • adjective
: very superior in air or attitude

Examples:
Our dinner guest was interesting but a bit toplofty as she recounted tales of her adventures abroad for us.

"He was being enormously toplofty, of course, trying to frighten her. And half succeeding." -- From Mary Balogh's 2011 novel More Than a Mistress

Did you know?
How many words do we need to describe those who seem to think they're better than the rest of us? By the 19th century we already had "arrogant," "haughty," and "supercilious," but there was apparently need for more because by mid-century the language had garnered two others: "toplofty" and its variant "toploftical." The source of these is likely the phrase "top loft," which refers to the highest story of a building. Neither is common, but both are available to you should their synonyms prove too boring or obvious.

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polysemous: having a diversity of meanings.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 16, 2011 is:

defenestration • \dee-fen-uh-STRAY-shun\  • noun
1 : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window 2 : a usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office)

Examples:
As with all annoying electronic devices, there is a risk that my new alarm clock will meet with a sudden end by defenestration.

"They are … bent on the politics of polarization, their more sensible leaders held hostage to the threat of defenestration in the next round of primary contests." -- From an article by Robert Shrum in The Week, July 14, 2011

Did you know?
These days "defenestration" is often used as it is in our second example above: to describe the forceful removal of someone from public office or from some other advantageous position. History’s most famous defenestration, however, was one in which the tossing out the window was quite literal. On May 23, 1618, two imperial regents were found guilty of violating certain guarantees of religious freedom. As punishment, they were thrown out the window of Prague Castle. The men survived the 50-foot tumble into the moat, but the incident, which became known as the Defenestration of Prague, marked the beginning of the Bohemian resistance to Hapsburg rule that eventually led to the Thirty Years' War.

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polemic: a controversial argument, as one against some opinion, doctrine, etc.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 15, 2011 is:

apocryphal • \uh-PAH-kruh-ful\  • adjective
: of doubtful authenticity

Examples:
Claims that a pack of hyenas had taken up residence near the campsite were believed to be apocryphal until their tracks were discovered last week.

"The story, perhaps apocryphal but certainly reasonable, goes that he was never the same after injuring his right shoulder in the minors when an overzealous coach forced him to participate in an intense throwing drill without warming up." -- From a blog post by Chad Finn on Boston.com, July 7, 2011

Did you know?
In Bible study, the term "Apocrypha" refers to sections of the Bible that are not sanctioned as belonging to certain official canons. In some Protestant versions these sections appear between the Old and New Testaments. More generally, the word refers to writings or statements whose purported origin is in doubt. Consequently, the adjective "apocryphal" describes things like legends and anecdotes that are purported to be true by way of repeated tellings but that have never been proven or verified and therefore most likely are not factual. Both "apocrypha" and "apocryphal" derive via Latin from the Greek verb "apokryptein," meaning "to hide away," from "kryptein" ("to hide").

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burke: to suppress or get rid of by some indirect means.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 14, 2011 is:

gumption • \GUMP-shun\  • noun
1 chiefly dialect : common sense, horse sense 2 : enterprise, initiative

Examples:
Mr. Walters hoped that at least one of his young sales clerks would have the gumption to apply for the vacant assistant manager position.

"Plans for the relocation and expansion of Vacaville's homeless shelter have hit a snag, but it looks like a little gumption and the city's support could keep the project from derailing." -- From an article by Kimberly K. Fu in the Contra Costa (California) Times, July 10, 2011

Did you know?
English speakers have had "gumption" (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term's exact origins aren't known, but its earliest known uses are found in British and especially Scottish dialects (which also include the forms "rumblegumption" and "rumgumption"). In its earliest uses, "gumption" referred to intelligence or common sense, especially when those qualities were combined with high levels of energy. By the 1860s, American English speakers were also using "gumption" to imply ambition or tenacity, but it wasn't until the early 1900s that "gumption" began to appear in English texts as a direct synonym of "courage" or "get-up-and-go." American showman P.T. Barnum also claimed that "gumption" named a particular kind of hard cider, but that sense is far from common today.

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holus-bolus: all at once; altogether.

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