While the bald eagle is a national symbol for the United States, the two major political parties that govern it are often represented by two different animals: a donkey for the Democratic Party and an elephant for the Republican Party. These animals are commonly linked with these two parties in everything from political analysis to bumper stickers. Why these two animals, though? Why not an …
by Rory Gory Many people are raised to believe that gender and sex are the same thing, and that there are two options available to us: male or female. But neither sex nor gender is inherently binary—the belief that people must be classified into one of these two categories. When something can’t be placed in two boxes, we call it nonbinary, meaning “not consisting of, …
Usually, triangles only strike fear and terror into the hearts of trigonometry students. However, there is one particular triangle that has captivated and terrified people the world over for quite a long time: the Bermuda Triangle. Is the Bermuda Triangle actually real and is there really any good reason to be afraid of this three-cornered geographic area? Let’s brave the unknown together and travel deep …
The internet keeps on supplying us with an endless stream of trendy slang words that come from anywhere—from bizarre TikTok streams and YouTube videos featuring sentient toilets—and everywhere in between. Why are grown men called babygirl? What is the scuttlebutt on tush push and gyatt? What does it mean to be delulu? Are we doomed to a fate of enshittification? We have all of the …
If you’ve ever purchased a product, read a book, or watched a movie (read: everyone currently on this page), then you’ve likely seen four symbols time and time again: ™, ®, ©, and ℠. They can be large or close to microscopic. No matter how small, however, they are powerful and convey a lot of meaning. So what’s the deal with each, and what makes …
Surely, you’ve heard of placebo before. Wait, no … not that Placebo … not the late ’90s British band. We mean the dummy drug that, despite not having any pharmacological property, can still make you feel better—pretty much like the rock band, right? Well, you might not know that placebo has an evil twin. Its name is nocebo, and it’s the bad guy. At first …
Awards season kicks off each year in November with the Emmy Awards and culminates with the Academy Awards in February. (The Tonys are a summertime outlier.) Rare talents can sometimes win all four of the major performing arts awards—an almost mythic achievement known colloquially as an EGOT: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. There are relatively few EGOT recipients, but they include …
The word addict has been around in English since at least the 1500s, adapted from the Latin addictus, meaning “assigned, surrendered.” But the way we talk about people with addiction is changing, and here at Dictionary.com, we’re changing along with it. In a major update to Dictionary.com, our lexicographers have replaced all instances of addict used as a noun with “a person addicted to” or …
Aesthetics are having a moment like never before. With the rise of TikTok and Gen Z internet culture has also come a shift in the way people express themselves and their interests. Microtrends, or short-lived viral trends, reign supreme, and many of them naturally divide into certain categories of popular fashion, accessories, and decor known as aesthetics. The 2023 Barbie movie is one major pop …
Even though the standard calendar year is 365 days, Earth actually takes 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds to go completely around the sun. (This is called a solar year.) In order to keep the calendar cycle synchronized with the seasons, one extra day is (usually) added every four years as February 29. Where did this practice come from? Who came up …
Concave and convex are literal opposites—one involves shapes that curve inward and the other involves shapes that curve outward. The terms can be used generally, but they’re often used in technical, scientific, and geometric contexts. Lenses, such as those used in eyeglasses, magnifying glasses, binoculars, and cameras are often described as concave or convex, depending on which way they curve. In geometry, both words can …
by Rory Gory | updated by John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com There are many stigmas and misconceptions surrounding mental illness, but it’s quite common to experience it. Nearly one in five US adults live with a mental illness, translating to about 46.6 million people as of 2017. Whether or not you live with a mental illness, mental health is something that all of …
