Don't let robust go the way of literally!

Excessive use will kill most things or make them less effective; even words. Consider for a moment "literally": a good word whose overuse and misuse have deprived it of real meaning.

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Confound-it-Hawkins-when-I-said-I-meant-that-literally-that-was-just-a-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8643121_.htm

Once, “literally” meant, well, literally; now it is being accepted as something other than literal. I would go into more detail, but my heart breaks for “literally”; I mean that figuratively. The next time you hear someone say, “He literally bombed on stage" or something similar, roll your eyes as contemptuously as any teenager! Using "literally" for "figuratively" is at Stage 3 on Bryan A. Garner's Language Change Index. (Stage 3: "The form becomes commonplace even among many well-educated people but is still avoided in careful usage.") But let's not let this happen to robust. 

Although "robust" seems to be the word of the moment, this is not good for the future of "robust" as a useful word. 

Robust's definition includes: "1. strong and healthy; hardy; vigorous; 2. Strongly or stoutly built; 3. Suited to or requiring bodily strength or endurance; 4. Rough , rude, or boisterous; 5. Rich and full-bodied; 6. Strong and effective in all or most situations and conditions." But there is good reason to think that our politicians and media are on a mission to deprive robust of its, well, robustness. Not intentionally, they're not entitled to that much credit. 

The Obama administration likes to use “robust.”

“President Obama is refusing to acknowledge he needs to change strategy against ISIS after the terrorist attacks in Paris, defending his actions as ‘robust.’”

“Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said, ‘we’re still planning to take in Syrian refugees’ . . . there are ‘very robust vetting procedures for those refugees.’”

"FACT SHEET: Obama Administration and Private-Sector Leaders Announce Ambitious Commitments and Robust Progress to Address Potent Greenhouse Gases[.]"

The military is developing a fondness for robust: “ʻThe French have been a robust partner and a robust member of Operation Inherent Resolve.” We shouldn't put too much stock in the military's word usage; after all, the military and its political overlords gave us "deconflict."

And the media are using it: “Democratic candidates pledge robust ISIS fight, implicitly chiding Obama.” 

In the examples, it’s not that “robust” is used incorrectly in all cases, but it is overused and often there's a better choice. But to know that and to make a better word choice requires work on our vocabulary. Alas, I'm not optimistic!