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Word of the Day: Fidelity (CRC) | Keep Your Word, Build Trust That Lasts

Antonio Brown
Oct 11
2 min read

Today’s word: fidelity

Pronounced: fuh-DEL-uh-tee Part of speech: noun

Fidelity means the quality or state of being faithful: staying loyal to a person, promise, or responsibility. In kid-friendly words, it means keeping your word so people know they can count on you.

Merriam-Webster also uses fidelity to describe how accurately something is reproduced, as in “high fidelity” sound. The dictionary lists its first known use in the 15th century. Read Merriam-Webster’s definition.

The story behind the word

Fidelity comes through Middle English and Latin roots connected to faithfulness and trust. It is related to Latin fidēs, meaning “faith,” “trust,” or “confidence,” and fīdere, meaning “to trust.”

You can hear family resemblances in words like faithful, confide, confidence, and bona fide. They all point toward trust: believing someone is sincere and can be counted on.

Fidelity turns a promise into trust, and young men whose word can be counted on become the anchors of their families and neighborhoods.

Put it into practice

  • For youth: Choose one small promise you can keep today. Maybe you’ll return a borrowed book, finish a reading session, or show up when you said you would.

  • For parents and caregivers: Notice and celebrate follow-through. A warm “You kept your word, and I appreciate that” helps make trust visible.

  • For barbershop owners: A friendly check-in, a shared book, and a dependable welcome can show young people that trusted community spaces are places where their voices matter.

CRC brings literacy experiences into barbershops and other trusted community spaces, where reading, encouragement, and consistent relationships can grow side by side. It’s one part of the wider CRC 8-program family, including FROM THE BARBERSHOP TO THE BOARDROOM.

A promise kept may seem small in the moment. Over time, those moments help build confidence and a community people can count on.

The Competitive Readers Coalition (CRC) crcbooks.org Connect with CRC on LinkedIn

 
 
 

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