Merriam-Webster is sharing 'beautiful, obscure' words daily amid COVID-19 pandemic

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary is trying to cheer up netizens amid the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Its official Twitter account has been putting the spotlight on "beautiful, obscure, and often quite useless words" as a "gift to our friends (you) in a time of crisis."

As a gift to our friends (you) in a time of crisis, we’ll be keeping a thread here of beautiful, obscure, and often quite useless words.

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 19, 2020

Some of the words it shared online include "solivagant," which means rambling alone, "filipendulous," which means suspended by or strung upon a thread, and "flingee," one at whom anything is flung.

Here are some other words they introduced:

4. 'Jentacular': pertaining to breakfast
(Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd Ed., 1934) pic.twitter.com/GWTFxJht4l

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 20, 2020

7. 'Scripturient': having a strong urge to writehttps://t.co/xsOu4e9OOq pic.twitter.com/84XNOqqHRY

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 21, 2020

10. 'Makebate': one that excites contentions and quarrelshttps://t.co/sz786LUyme pic.twitter.com/6bQMjitqRI

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) March 22, 2020

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 has soared past 15,000, with more than 341,000 people infected worldwide, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday warned that the pandemic is clearly "accelerating", but said it was still possible to change its trajectory by going on the attack.

WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 12 (Philippine time).

—JCB, GMA News