Archives

  1. Emoji With Good Origin Stories (And The People Who Created Them)

    This would be a slideshow of emoji that have good creation/origin stories. Example: hijab emoji, drop of blood emoji, etc. An intro slide and ~10 emoji would be great. Let me know if you have questions.

  2. march madness bracket

    Vote For The Best Slang Word In English: March Madness Round Three Is Open!

    It’s time to vote on round three of our slang competition at Dictionary.com! There’s no basketball on television, but March Madness has continued safely here at Dictionary.com. We’ve been asking you to vote your way through a bracket while you’re hunkered down at home, and you’ve let us know in no uncertain terms that it was time for some words to go! Take the match-up …

  3. Inconceivable! Play ’80s Movie Word Bingo

    Let’s face it: There’s never a bad time to educate your kids on some of the classic movies from “the good old days.” Yes, we are talking about ’80s movies, films made back when everything was gnarly, and you steered clear of anything that seemed bogus. Want to add an extra dash of education into the mix? We’ve got you! Introducing part two of the Dictionary.com …

  4. How Kids Learn to Write, And How to Help Them Do It

    By Lindsay Barrett Children have lots of ideas. When they begin to communicate these ideas on paper, it’s a window into their thinking that’s both endearing and fascinating. Now, every child is unique, of course, but early writing usually progresses through recognizable stages: scribbling, pretend writing, and approximated spelling all lead up to the real thing. Here’s a rundown on what you’ll likely see between …

  5. Take The Disney Movie Word Challenge!

    If your television or tablet has been taken over by non-stop Disney movies, you’re not alone. Screen time is increasing in plenty of households as parents try to make do with schools closing while working from home. Before you start wringing your hands and getting down on yourself, we’ve got a little bit of good news: Kids’ minds don’t have to be frozen by all …

  6. Respirator vs. Ventilator: What Is The Difference?

    by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com During the coronavirus break, you may have heard that hospital and healthcare providers have faced a shortage of respirators and ventilators, two critical tools in fighting the infection. Now, many of us know that both respirators and ventilators deal with breathing in some way, but may be confused about the difference between them. Are they both just …

  7. What’s the Difference Between “Allude” vs. “Elude”?

    What’s the deal with these two useful words? With only a two-letter difference, it can seem at first that spelling may be the only distinction between them. But, of course, you know us … and we wouldn’t be here talking about these two words if there weren’t more differences between them. So how can we more easily tell the difference between these two? Luckily for …

  8. “Amicable” vs. “Amiable”: What’s The Difference?

    The words amicable and amiable are sort of like fraternal twins. They certainly have a lot in common, but upon a closer look, there are differences that truly set them apart. Admittedly though, spotting the differences between amicable and amiable even gave us pause. First, they practically look the same and sound the same, so it is easy to understand how one could mix them up. …

  9. What’s the Difference Between “Afflict” vs. “Inflict”?

    Chances are that, during times of … let’s say biological outbreak, you’re bound to hear the words afflicted, affliction, and inflict or inflicted used a lot—and to varying degrees of accuracy. It’s OK, this is normal: the English language is particularly confusing when it comes to usage of words that share a similar element. In this case, it’s –flict, ultimately based on the Latin verb …

  10. “Jury-rigged” vs. “Jerry-rigged”

    This one’s for you, DIY fans. Jury-rigged means something was assembled quickly with the materials on hand. Jerry-built means it was cheaply or poorly built. Jerry-rigged is a variant of jury-rigged, and it may have been influenced by  jerry-built. While some people consider it to be an incorrect version of jury-rigged, it’s widely used, especially in everyday speech. What does jury-rigged mean? The word jury has …

  11. Vote For The Best Slang Word In English: Round Two Is Open!

    Update: March Madness voting for round two has ended! See the winners below, and go vote in round 3!  It’s time for round two of our slang competition at Dictionary.com! Last week, you told us how you really felt about popular slang words in round one of voting on our March Madness bracket.  Favorite words and phrases like OK boomer, big mood, and snacc came out …

  12. Ways To Rephrase The Most Insulting Ways To Say “Goodbye”

    What do you do when you want to say “goodbye” to something (or someone), but don’t really feel the good part of that sentiment? Whether you’re late to a meeting and stuck on the phone, or just nodding your head in mock agreement as someone prattles on endlessly (with no clue they lost you 10 minutes ago), we’d like to offer you advice. It’s true, …