Ableist language doesn’t only consist of slurs. It comes in many forms, including some so familiar that you may have never stopped to think about their origins or implications. The term ableist language has two definitions in this dictionary, accounting for the different things it can refer to: words and phrases that devalue disabled people by using disability language or historical descriptions of disabilities as …
Over the last couple of years, the term bae has achieved widespread usage. While the noun form has been around for over 10 years, adjectival and verbal uses, along with other related forms, have more recently started popping up to describe the people and things we love, or at least like-like. Twitter, in particular, is rife with interesting new uses of the term. The popular social …
What is love? People have had a hard time answering that question for a lot longer than you might think. In Ancient Greece, love was a concept pondered over by some of history’s most famous philosophers, including Plato and Aristotle. Greek philosophers attempted to explain love rationally and often categorized the different kinds of love people could feel. Because we love them so much, we …
Every May in the United States, Americans observe Older Americans Month, a month-long observance devoted to celebrating older Americans and their contributions and raising awareness about issues related to age and aging. This makes May an important time during which to consider language used to talk about older people and ageism—which we should be doing every month of the year, too! This topic matters because …
Every four years, the presidential inauguration captures the attention of people in the United States. Some tune in to the televised event for the eye-catching ceremony, crowds, and parties. Others are most looking forward to the swearing-in. Yet regardless of what people tune in for, the whole swearing in part is sometimes confused with the inauguration itself. Which makes you wonder: what is the inauguration and …
Slowly but surely, travel is opening back up, and a lot of us are antsy to get on the road or hop on a plane. Before we do, though, we can take a minute to consider the names of all of the places we might want to visit and—a crucial question, for us at least—whether or not we even know how to pronounce them. After …
Fashion is a major form of art and innovation. New looks and styles are being created all the time, but sometimes those new styles have names that aren’t so chic. The fashion world is full of funny portmanteaus, or word combinations that take the names of two well-known items and mash them together into something brand new and, well, sometimes a bit silly. Ever heard …
Let’s hit the brakes and take a quick break to break down the difference between brake and break. We’ll answer all your questions, including: Did we just use all of those words correctly? What’s the difference between break and brake? Is it break down or brake down? Is it a break pedal or a brake pedal? In this article, we’ll cover multiple meanings of these …
by Min Straussman The language of queer identity is constantly evolving and expanding, and there will always be new terminology to learn. Pride Month is the perfect opportunity to increase understanding and awareness of the kind of emerging and newly prominent terms that we’re constantly adding to our Gender and Sexuality Dictionary. Language is an important part of how queer people, and particularly nonbinary and …
It was a dark and stormy night when the writer turned to Dictionary.com for synonyms and definitions to make their writing pop. At least, it would be a dark and stormy night if said writer was basing a story on one of the most cliché (a trite, stereotyped expression that has lost all originality from being long overused) introductions to grace the page. If you’ve …
In any election, there’s a ton of information to get a handle on. When can you vote? Can you vote early? Where can you vote? And oh yeah, who and what are you voting for? On top of all that, the electoral process in the US can be just plain confusing—no matter how much attention you, ahem, paid in American Government class. There’s the general …
