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Topic: The exactly right word

You know that search for the exactly right word? Well, we heard from a listener whose search for the exactly right word centers on the single, specific word that is used to name the exactly right word.

We're familiar with the satisfaction and joy concomitant with choosing the right word, but we're not confident that the exactly right word has one and only one name of its own. But we'll begin by passing along a few adjectives used to describe the right word in the right place. Consider concinnate and concinnous, used to describe speech and writing "put together with neat propriety"; or something "of elegant style." Speaking of elegant, that term has a scientific application used for something "characterized by precision, neatness, and simplicity." Is elegant just not right? Then try on felicitous or apposite for size. Felicitous names "a telling or elegant neatness or appropriateness"; while apposite is used for something "highly pertinent or appropriate"; "relevant"; or "apt."

French has graciously loaned our lexicon a few likely nouns over the years, too. There's bijouterie, meaning "an apt turn of phrase" or a "bon mot." But bon mot—"good word" in French—normally is applied to a witticism. So if we had to pick one term—and we'd guess this is the term our correspondent was searching for—we'd go with mot juste—meaning "the exactly right word"; or "precisely expressive phrasing."

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.