The Number Nest

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2025 is:

impetus • \IM-puh-tus\  • noun

Impetus refers to a force or impulse that causes something (such as a process or activity) to be done or to become more active. It is often used with for and sometimes with to.

// Her work provided the major impetus behind the movement.

// The tragic accident became an impetus for changing the safety regulations.

// The high salary and generous benefits package were impetus enough to apply for the job.

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Examples:

“... using the many tools now available, I built a family tree with over twelve hundred names of people living in some two dozen countries. If there is anything approaching a single story of humanity, it is surely one of movement, whatever the impetus.” — Diana McCaulay, LitHub.com, 27 Feb. 2025

Did you know?

Impetus provides the “why” for something: it can be understood as a driving force (as when winning a competition is the impetus for training), an incentive (as when increased skills serve as an impetus for taking a class), or encouragement (as when difficulties are the impetus for improvements). But its root packs more of a wallop: Latin impetus means “assault” as well as “impetus,” and it comes from impetere meaning “to attack.” (Impetere itself comes from petere, meaning “to go to, seek.”) If these origins seem a tad aggressive for such a genteel-sounding word as impetus, consider phrases and idioms like light a fire under someone and push comes to shove, both used when a strong impetus is provided for someone to act, decide, or accomplish something.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2025 is:

restive • \RES-tiv\  • adjective

Restive can describe a person or group feeling impatience or uneasiness, or it can describe someone who is stubbornly resistant to control.

// The audience grew increasingly restive as the speaker droned on and on.

// The school's focus on artistic expression helps restive youths stay engaged in their learning.

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Examples:

"One of the most important triggers for industrial revolution in England was the draining of the population from the rural areas into the cities. ... [T]his meant that there was a growing shortage of agricultural workers and a concomitant fall in food production both in terms of quality and quantity. The immediate consequence was that available food not only became more expensive but increasingly so with time. Under these circumstances, the workers became restive, demanding the provision of the food they needed to save themselves from starvation." — Adebayo Lamikanra, The Nation (Nigeria), 13 Apr. 2025

Did you know?

Restive is descended from the Anglo-French verb rester, meaning "to stop, resist, or remain." Its initial meaning in the 15th century was "stubbornly resisting control or guidance; obstinate in refusal," and for some time the word was primarily applied to animals such as horses. Over the next few centuries, restive gained additional, closely related meanings (such as "inflexible," "sluggish," and "persistent") and the word often described people as well as animals. In the 19th century this semantic drift extended to encompass the meaning "marked by impatience or uneasiness." Although the original "balky" sense of restive hasn't died out completely, it is overshadowed by this more recent "fidgety or impatient" one. Some usage guides still recommend against using restive in this modern sense, despite well over a century and a half of skilled writers employing it. If you're among the restive (earlier meaning) ones who balk at new meanings of words, we apologize if this news makes you feel restive (newer one).