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Jan 15, 2026
This week’s theme
New words

This week’s words
touch grass
doomscroll
shadow ban
edgelord
nepo baby

edgelord
Witches’ Sabbath, 1798
Art: Francisco Goya

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

edgelord

PRONUNCIATION:
(EJ-lord)

MEANING:
noun: A person who affects an edgy persona by saying or doing provocative or offensive things, chiefly to attract attention.

ETYMOLOGY:
From edge, from Old English ecg + lord, from hlaford (loaf guard). Earliest documented use: 2013.

NOTES:
An edgelord’s goal is not persuasion, humor, or insight, but reaction. The term is often used dismissively, suggesting that the “edge” is for the show and the lordship entirely self-bestowed. In other words, all edge, no point.

USAGE:
“While this Superman is light-hearted, he is not an edgelord like Deadpool. Instead, he is an outsider with a fierce optimism about humanity, and a will to bring people together.”
Danny Leigh; Hollywood’s Box Office Superhero Returns; Financial Times (London, UK); Jul 12, 2025.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. -Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader (15 Jan 1929-1968)

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