Walter Mitty: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for August 3 is:

Walter Mitty \wawl-ter-MITT-ee\ noun
: a commonplace unadventurous person who seeks escape from reality through daydreaming

Example sentence:
"Many readers seem to be Walter Mittys, content to experience danger vicariously." (James Kelly, _Time Magazine_, August 19, 1985)

Did you know?
The original "Walter Mitty" was created by humorist James Thurber, who wrote the famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." In Walter's real life, he is a reticent, henpecked proofreader befuddled by everyday life. But in his fantasies, Walter imagines himself as various daring and heroic characters. Thurber's popular story, which was first published in _The New Yorker_ in 1939, was later made into a movie. Walter Mitty has since become the eponym for dreamers who imagine themselves in dramatic or heroic situations.

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