eschew

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 3, 2024 is: eschew ess-CHOO verb What It Means To eschew something is to avoid it, especially because you do not think it is right, proper, or practical. // Their teacher was known as a Luddite because he eschewed the use of smartphones and tablets in the classroom. cynosure in Context “Scheduled work shifts [at Burning Man] were delayed and continually rearranged, causing confusion among campers as to how and when to contribute.... While some of us found ways to help, others took it as an opportunity to eschew their responsibilities. However, those of us who showed up united, and handled business, did so with aplomb...” — Morena Duwe, The Los Angeles Times, 9 Sept. 2024 Did You Know? Something to chew on: there’s no etymological relationship between the verbs chew and eschew. While the former comes from the Old English word cēowan, eschew comes instead from the Anglo-French verb eschiver and shares roots with the Old High German verb sciuhen, meaning “to frighten off.” In his famous dictionary of 1755, Samuel Johnson characterized eschew as “almost obsolete.” History has proven that the great lexicographer was wrong on that call, however. Today, following a boom in the word’s usage during the 19th and 20th centuries, English speakers and writers use eschew when something is avoided less for temperamental reasons than for moral or practical ones, even if misguidedly so, as when Barry Lopez wrote in his 2019 book Horizon of ill-fated Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, “with an attitude of cultural superiority, eschewing sled dogs for Manchurian ponies....”