For a person, to be mealy-mouthed is to tend to say things in indirect, evasive, or deceptive ways. A mealy-mouthed statement is one that is indirect or evasive. The word is usually meant negatively; when people speak in mealy-mouthed ways, we tend to think they're afraid to speak plainly, are ... Read more
Mirandize
To Mirandize is to inform an arrested suspect of his or her rights. The word derives from the Miranda v. Arizona U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which held that self-incriminating statements made by a crime suspect are not admissible in court unless the suspect is first informed of his or her rights to ... Read more
Memento mori
A memento mori is something, especially an object, that serves as a reminder of mortality. Memento mori tend to be ominous or frightening items; for example, skulls and representations of skulls have traditionally served as memento mori. But the term can also denote less ominous things, such as a ... Read more
Multitask
Multitask works as both an adjective and a verb. Its adjectival sense is the original, arising in the early 1960s to describe computing systems in which multiple processes execute simultaneously. The verb sense---to perform multiple tasks at once---came about soon thereafter, as did the participial ... Read more
Murderers’ row
Murderers' Row (Murderers' is originally plural and possessive) was coined in 1918 to describe an especially intimidating section of the New York Yankees' batting lineup, and it was reprised in the late 1920s to describe the lineup that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Today, murderers' row is ... Read more
Many vs. much
Many modifies things that can be counted (i.e., count nouns). Much modifies things that can't be counted (i.e., mass nouns). In other words, many tends to modify plural nouns, and much tends to modify singular nouns. For example, we write many doctors, many stars, and many dollars because these ... Read more
Misinformed vs. uninformed
Something that is misinformed is based on bad information. Something that is uninformed is based on no information or inadequate information. For example, a webpage on the difference between misinformed and uninformed would be uninformed if it were based on no research or experience, and it ... Read more
Marry vs. merry
Marry is a verb meaning (1) to become someone's husband or wife, and (2) to officiate at a marriage ceremony. The adjective meaning jolly or festive is spelled merry, with an e. Merry works as a noun in the verb phrase make merry, meaning to be festive or to celebrate, and it also ... Read more
Modeling vs. modelling
In American English, the verb model becomes modeled and modeling. Outside North America, the preferred participles are modelled and modelling, with two l's. Canadians prefer the double-l forms, though the single-l forms appear about a third of the time. (In contrast, the double-l forms ... Read more
Misnomer
A misnomer is (1) a name that gives a misleading impression, or (2) a mistake in naming something. It's an old word with many centuries of use in English,1 and it is especially useful because it has no concise synonyms. Yet in today's English, the word is commonly misused as a synonym of either ... Read more
