The Words of the Week - August 9

‘Bear’

Bear saw increased lookups this week following a story over the weekend involving a bear, a bicycle, and an independent presidential candidate.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate, confessed on Sunday that he had left a dead bear cub in Central Park in Manhattan in 2014 because he thought it would be “amusing.” Mr. Kennedy posted a video detailing the bizarre story on social media ahead of an article in The New Yorker that mentions the incident. “Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one,” he said, tagging the magazine.
— Emma G. Fitzsimmons, The New York Times, 4 Aug. 2024

We define bear as “any of a family (Ursidae of the order Carnivora) of large heavy mammals of America and Eurasia that have long shaggy hair, rudimentary tails, and plantigrade feet and feed largely on fruit, plant matter, and insects as well as on flesh.” Bear (not to be confused with the unrelated verb bear or the adjective bare) comes from the Old English word bera, which shares roots with the Old English word brūn, meaning “brown.”

‘GOAT’

Lookups for GOAT have risen during the Olympic Games in Paris, most likely due to references to gymnast Simone Biles.

The gymnastics GOAT, Simone Biles, will be back on the floor on Monday as she looks to add another gold medal to her cabinet. Her floor performance in the all-around final was out of this world, and she's the red-hot favourite here again.
— The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 5 Aug. 2024

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.

‘Antitrust’

Lookups for antitrust rose in the wake of news that a judge had ruled that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly.

Google is now 0 for 2 in antitrust trials. US District judge Amit Mehta ruled on Monday that Google has unlawfully maintained its dominance in search by using anticompetitive deals to keep rivals from gaining traction.
— Paresh Dave, WIRED, 5 Aug. 2024

According to our definition, the adjective antitrust describes that which is “of, relating to, or being legislation against or opposition to trusts or combinations,” and especially “consisting of laws to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints and monopolies or unfair business practices.” The relevant sense of trust here is “a combination of firms or corporations that is formed by a legal agreement and reduces or threatens to reduce competition.”

‘Avuncular’

Lookups for avuncular uncharacteristically spiked early this week, possibly in connection with Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Despite his avuncular personality, Walz has a serious command of policy; having him by her side shows that Harris wants to surround herself with seasoned partners who want to govern.
— Julian E. Zelizer, Foreign Policy, 6 Aug. 2024

With an avuncular vibe and Midwestern charm, Walz is not a coastal elite. He was born in rural Nebraska. He grew up hunting and fishing.
— Vinay Menon, The Toronto (Ontario) Star, 7 Aug. 2024

We define avuncular as “suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality.” Of course, not all uncles are likeable fellows (Hamlet’s villainous Uncle Claudius, for example, isn’t exactly Mr. Nice Guy in Shakespeare’s tragedy), but avuncular reveals that, as a group, uncles are often seen as friendly and kindhearted. Avuncular comes from the Latin noun avunculus, which means “maternal uncle,” but since the 19th century English speakers have used avuncular to describe uncles from either side of the family, or people who are uncle-like in character or behavior. Avunculus is also an ancestor of the word uncle itself.

Word Worth Knowing: ‘Marcescent’

Marcescent is an obscure word that is used of a plant part, such as a leaf, to mean “withering without falling off.” Some species of trees—for example, many oaks and beeches—have marcescent leaves; they hang on throughout the fall and winter unless blown off by wind or pelted by precipitation. If you need the noun form (“the quality or state of being marcescent”) it is marcescence.