Tensions are high on the Korean Peninsula. The aggression by North Korea on the South has captured the world’s attention and raised a number of questions about Korea’s history, names, and geography. Prior to 1910, Korea was a kingdom. Then, from 1910 to 1945, the country was under Japanese rule. At the end of World War II, the country was divided into two occupational zones along the …
By Laura Vismara The words trauma and traumatized have been consistently in the spotlight for the last two decades, rapidly surging to become commonplace and reaching new peaks of popularity in recent years, according to internet search trends. Propelled by major world events that rightfully fall under the label of traumatic—pandemics, wars, and episodes of violence to name a few—trauma has become epidemic. As we …
1. Tracy Morgan’s schooling on the difference between well and good. Tracy is known for having surprising moments of insight, but this grammar smackdown takes the cake. 2. The time even Oscar Martinez was stumped by English grammar rules. We’ve all faked knowing how to use terms like who and whom (because, really, English is complicated enough). This scene nails that perplexing feeling when faced …
Whether you’re speaking, reading, or writing in English, you can’t get very far before you stumble on a word with Latin influence. Aside from the estimated 60 percent of English words that have roots in Latin, you can’t pull out a book, pull up a YouTube video, or switch on Netflix these days without hearing some Latin phrases in your favorite movies, songs, and novels. From …
Prepare your middle school kids for high school with these vocab activities Do you have a middle-schooler preparing for high school? Challenge them with over 10 vocab activities designed for high school age students. Learning about roots of words Roots can form words in our current language by reconstructing original words from a parent language. Learn more about roots of words by looking for some …
If you walk down the aisle of the supermarket past the peanut butter, you’ll find fruity jars of jelly, jam, marmalade, and preserves. Are all of these different names necessary? Do all of those jars have the same stuff in them, or is there actually a difference? In this article, we will help you out of jam by explaining the difference between jelly, jam, marmalade, …
A curious word hit the mainstream following the 2013 release of a romantic comedy called Drinking Buddies: mumblecore. The term was rumored to have been coined in jest by a sound editor in 2005, but the construct demonstrated considerable lasting power, canonized in New York Times articles such as “A Generation Finds Its Mumble” from 2007 and later in “Mumblecore Masters, Enunciating Clearly,” in reference to Drinking Buddies, starring …
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 …
Growing up, most kids have that one friend with the incredibly strict parent. You know the one—the mom or dad who instills fear in everyone so that no one ever misbehaves around them, ever. There might also be a lot of yes ma’ams and no sirs involved. Well, it’s easy to joke that these parents are as strict as military officers. But in reality, not everyone …
![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, …