On December 17, 2010 26-year-old street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolates in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. His dramatic action is considered the start of the Arab Spring, a period of pro-democracy uprisings that reverberated through North Africa and the Middle East.    Mohamed Bouazizi lived in the impoverished city of Sidi Bouzid, about 100 miles south of the capital […]

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 16, 2025 is:

conversant • \kun-VER-sunt\  • adjective

Conversant, usually used in the phrase "conversant with," describes someone who has knowledge of or experience with something.

// The ideal candidate for the sommelier position will have expert knowledge of the various wines served in the restaurant and be conversant with the rich world of viniculture.

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Examples:

"The advantages of franchise expansion are obvious. These shows benefit from name recognition and a dedicated audience, as well as writers, producers and crew members already conversant with that audience's expectations." — Alexis Soloski, The New York Times, 6 July 2025

Did you know?

The adjectives conversant and conversational both descend from the Latin verb conversari, meaning "to associate with." Conversant dates to the Middle Ages; an early meaning of the word was simply "having familiar association." One way to associate with others is to have a conversation with them—in other words, to talk. For a short time in the 19th century conversant could mean "relating to or suggesting conversation," but for the most part that meaning stayed with conversational while conversant went in a different direction. Today, conversant is sometimes used, especially in the United States, with the meaning "able to talk in a foreign language," as in "she is conversant in several languages," but it is more often associated with knowledge or familiarity, as in "conversant with the issues."

By Christian J. Collier