Word of the Day

: December 24, 2018

grinch

noun GRINCH

What It Means

: one who spoils the pleasure of others : killjoy, spoilsport

grinch in Context

"Chalk it up to a weary world eager for uplifting entertainment, the surprise of a diamond-in-the-rough performer or simply the sheer delight of watching Britain's Got Talent judge and notorious grinch Simon Cowell grow a heart right before the audience's eyes." — Michelle Tauber et al., People, 4 May 2009

"Not content with banning Christmas in 2016, the country's supreme grinch, Kim Jong Un, went further by prohibiting gatherings that involve alcohol and singing, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS)." — John Onyanga-Omara, The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), 20 Dec. 2017

Did You Know?

When Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, wrote the children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 1957, he probably had no idea that grinch would soon enter the general lexicon of English. Like Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge (whose name has become synonymous with miser), the Grinch changes his ways by the story's end, but it's the unreformed character who "hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!" who sticks in our minds. The ill-natured Grinch, with his heart "two sizes too small," provides us with a lively symbol of someone we love to hate, and his name has thus come to refer to any disgruntled grump who ruins the pleasure of others.