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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

imperturbable

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 10, 2025 is:

imperturbable • \im-per-TER-buh-bul\  • adjective

Imperturbable describes someone or something marked by extreme calm; such a person or thing is very hard to disturb or upset.

// The imperturbable captain did not panic when the boat sailed into the path of a violent storm.

// Nothing disrupted the contestant's imperturbable focus.

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Examples:

"The thick heat is not letting up after a long stretch of nearly-90-degree-days, though the crowd has not seemed to notice. Instead, these thousands of people emanate a truly imperturbable energy as they get to see gospel legend Mavis Staples for free." — David Cohn, The Daily Californian (UC Berkeley), 13 Oct. 2024

Did you know?

Imperturbable is a bit of a mouthful, but don’t let its five syllables perturb you. Instead, let us break it down: this word, as well as its antonym perturbable, comes from the Latin verb perturbare, meaning "to agitate, trouble, or throw into confusion." Perturbare comes in turn from the combination of per-, meaning "thoroughly," and turbare, meaning "to disturb"; unsurprisingly perturbare is also the source of the English verb perturb. Other perturbare descendants include disturb ("to destroy the tranquility or composure of") and turbid ("thick or opaque with or as if with roiled sediment").



Transcript

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0:00.0

It's the Word of the Day for March 10th.

0:11.4

Today's word is imperturbable, spelled I-M-P-E-R-T-R-B-A-B-L-E.

0:20.3

Imperturbable is an adjective. It describes someone or something marked by

0:24.6

extreme calm, such as a person or thing that is very hard to disturb or upset. Here's the word used.

0:31.6

In a sentence from the Daily Californian by David Cohn, the thick heat is not letting up after a long stretch of nearly 90-degree days,

0:40.3

though the crowd has not seemed to notice. Instead, these thousands of people emanate a truly

0:46.3

imperturbable energy as they get to see gospel legend Mavis Staples for free. The word imperturbable

0:54.1

is a bit of a mouthful, but don't let its five

0:57.3

syllables perturb you. Instead, let us break it down. This word, as well as its antonym perturbable,

1:05.0

comes from the Latin verb perturbare, meaning to agitate trouble or throw into confusion.

1:13.7

Perturbare comes in turn from the combination of per, meaning thoroughly, and terbare meaning to disturb. Unsurprisingly, perterbare is

1:21.1

also the source of the English verb perturb. Other per turturb descendants include disturb, as in to destroy the tranquility or

1:30.0

composure of, and turbid, meaning thick or opaque with or as if with royal sediment.

1:37.7

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

1:44.0

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