Maladroit - plus, trending lookups galore!

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY [April 9, 2018](#none) maladroit [Audio pronunciation]( adjective | mal-uh-DROYT Definition : lacking skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations : [inept]( Scroll down for more about maladroit TRENDING NOW: [oligarch]( [glib]( [depose]( [omnibus]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING # ['Advisor' vs. 'Adviser': Who Will Win?]( # [Know Your Baseball Idioms]( # [Can 'Over' Mean "More Than"?]( # [To Use or Not Use the "?" in Requests]( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [Name that Thing: Toys and Games Edition]( It's all fun and games until someone beats your high score. [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? To understand the origin of maladroit, you need to put together some Middle French and Old French building blocks. The first is the word mal, meaning "bad," and the second is the phrase a droit, meaning "properly." You can parse the phrase even further into the components a, meaning "to" or "at," and droit, meaning "right, direct, or straight." Middle French speakers put those pieces together as maladroit to describe the clumsy among them, and English speakers borrowed the word intact back in the 17th century. Its opposite, of course, is [adroit](, which we adopted from the French in the same century. Examples of MALADROIT Any project, however carefully planned, is doomed to fail under maladroit management. "[Lucy Atkins'] tale of a high-flying television historian entangled with a socially maladroit and manipulative 60-something housekeeper is smart and horrifying in equal measure." — Geordie Williamson, The Australian, 16 Dec. 2017 Name That Antonym Fill in the blanks to complete an antonym of maladroit: _ e _ t _ ro _ _. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( WEBBY AWARDS Help Merriam-Webster Win A Webby! We’re thrilled that our app is nominated in the Education & Reference category. Please vote for us and show that words matter! [VOTE NOW [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( SHARE: [Facebook][Facebook]( [Twitter][Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 [www.merriam-webster.com](