Where were you the first time you learned you could spell words on a calculator? For most of us, the answer is an elementary or middle school math class. Maybe you had a friend who taught you the numbers to push to spell hello. Or, perhaps you were busy with homework and noticed the upside down numbers on your calculator looked like LOL. Before long …
One recipe says to roast the chicken breasts in the oven at 400° F. Another recipe calls for the chicken breasts to be baked … in the oven… at 400°. What’s going on here? Are roast and bake really interchangeable, or are there subtle differences? The answer is both. In this article, we’ll break down the multiple meanings of both roast and bake, what the …
![A dark blue background with an upside-down image of a man wearing virtual reality goggles. Imposed on the background is a list of words in white outline: UAP, parklet, memeify, new words [in bold white letters], metaverse, throuple, wabi-sabi](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220325_newWords_800x800-380x380.png)
by Nick Norlen, Research Editor, and Heather Bonikowski, Lexicographer The latest update to Dictionary.com reflects our mission to help make sense of the world through words. Of the hundreds of newly added terms, some define our times, notably those related to the ongoing COVID pandemic and climate emergency. Other updates cover important changes in how we talk about a vast range of topics, including disability, …
Can you really name your baby that?! Picking a baby name that everyone (from grandma to the grocery clerk) likes can be a fruitless, futile endeavor. Coming up with one that confounds the whole world is seemingly a lot easier. Take Elon Musk, chief of Tesla and SpaceX, and singer Grimes, who recently announced the birth of their daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, or “Y” for …
It’s the internet’s favorite eight-armed plural debate: octopuses vs. octopi. (And that relative newcomer, octopodes.) Is there a “correct” plural for octopus? And what’s with the -i in octopi? In this article, we’ll wrap our tentacles around these questions, break down the differences between each term, and tell you which terms are acceptable and most commonly used. Like the octopus itself, the English language is, …
You probably know that octopuses and squids are different animals, but if one latched onto you and refused to let go until you were able to list all the differences, how much would you really be able to say? (Scary hypothetical, we know.) After all, they’re both boneless sea creatures with lots of arms, right? Well, sort of. There are several major differences, not to …
