WORD OF THE DAY: AUGUST
adjective | aw-GUST
The word august, which is pronounced with the accent on “gust,” describes someone or something marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.
// We toured the old mansion’s august halls and expansive grounds.
EXAMPLE OF AUGUST
“His tone is temperate, but the words echo through the State Capitol’s Assembly chamber, the august backdrop for his speech.” — Maya Singer, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2026
DID YOU KNOW?
The Roman republican calendar spanned just ten months, from March (then Martius) through December. The last five months were each named for their numerical place on the calendar: Quintilis (fifth), Sextilis (sixth), September (seventh), October (eighth), November (ninth), and December (tenth). January and February were eventually added to create a twelve-month year, obscuring the relationship between these months and their titles. So it was a welcome change when the Roman Senate honoured Gaius Octavius (aka Octavian), the first Roman emperor, by changing Sextilis to Augustus—the designation taken by Octavian from the Latin adjective augustus meaning “worthy of honour” or “venerable.” Although August has been the English name of the eighth month of the year since before the 12th century, it wasn’t until the late 1500s that august came to be used as an adjective (pronounced \aw-GUST\), more or less as augustus was in Latin.
Merriam Webster Dictionary
