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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 3, 2024 is:\n \n

\n parry • \\PAIR-ee\\  • verb
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Parry has two basic meanings. To parry can be to defend yourself by turning away from or pushing aside a weapon, assault, etc., or to evade something, such as a question, especially by using a clever response.

// Players of the game must unfailingly parry blows from multiple varied attackers while progressing through a series of worlds.

// She is consistently able to parry even the most difficult questions reporters level at her.

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\n Examples:
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\u201cFew things annoy me more than a fight scene that\u2019s simply a blow-by-blow account. \u2018He threw a right jab, which she parried and countered with a left knee, which he dodged by rolling out of the way.\u2019 But to what end? The beauty of literature is it\u2019s not a movie. Certainly, one should help readers visualize movements, but good prose can do so much more.\u201d \u2014 Rita Chang-Eppig, LitHub.com, 19 May 2023

\n Did you know?
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In the The Princess Bride, William Goldman\u2019s 1973 comedic novel later made into a popular film of the same name, there is swashbuckling galore, as in the famous showdown between the mysterious man in black and the Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya: \u201cThe man in black was slowly being forced toward a group of large boulders, for Inigo was anxious to see how well he moved when quarters were close, when you could not thrust or parry with total freedom.\u201d To parry is to ward off a weapon or blow; indeed, parrying is as important to fencing as sticking one\u2019s opponent with the pointy end. The word parry was borrowed from the French verb parer, meaning \u201cto ward off\u201d or \u201cto avert,\u201d and was first used in English in the late 17th century. It didn\u2019t take long for parry to gain a figurative meaning of \u201cto evade or turn aside something,\u201d as when someone disarms a verbal sparring partner with a well-timed rejoinder. Montoya, for instance, parries the criminal Vizzini\u2019s doubt that the man in black can catch up to them (\u201cInconceivable!\u201d) with the sharp response \u201cYou keep using that word! \u2026 I don\u2019t think it means what you think it does.\u201d