During the holidays, kids hope to receive that one toy they have been dreaming of all year. Popular toys come and go, but some of them are still fondly remembered by multiple generations. One reason is because of their catchy, memorable names. That being said, the origins of the names of many classics range from simple to odd to downright mysterious. We decided to dive …
Dictionary.com Study Reveals Shifts in Political Awareness and Vocabulary Since 2016 Presidential Election ; Alignment with Site Search Data OAKLAND, Calif., April 18 , 2017 – While the 2016 Presidential election left Americans split across party lines, there is one thing the majority can agree on – more than half (53%) of overall Americans now feel more informed about current affairs than before the Presidential …
As 2017 comes to a close, it’s time for us to reflect on the words that impacted all of us this year—for better or for worse. At Dictionary.com, the Word of the Year serves as a symbol of the year’s most meaningful events and lookup trends. Our 2017 Word of the Year is complicit. Complicit means “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable …
We’re already halfway through 2019, which means we had to look back at our word search data! We love data, OK. Plus, the search trends on Dictionary.com from April through June 2019 did not disappoint. Politics, of course, drove many of the searches. And, uh, a quick warning: there are some references to adult content ahead. (Hey, we don’t control the words, folks. We document …
From NASCAR tracks to Washington, D.C., here are the words that were blowing up the Dictionary.com trending charts October 19–26, 2018. Funner Semi-retired NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped the word funner on Twitter last weekend, drawing out the language snobs to correct him on his usage. There’s just one problem: Funner is, in fact, a word! Informal though it may be, the word that spiked …
For the second time in as many months, former CIA Director John Brennan has thrown searches on Dictionary.com into a tailspin. Last month, Brennan’s retort to President Donald Trump drove people in droves to find out the meaning of the words turpitude, venality, and demagogue. So what word did Brennan use this week of April 13–20, 2018 (in yet another response to the president)?Kakistocracy Meaning “a form …
Dictionary Week was planned as a celebration of Dictionary.com’s 28th birthday—a word party in honor of all the ways words touch our lives. We loved celebrating with you so much that we’ve rounded up some of our favorite moments and highlights. Cheers! We kicked the week off with Wordplay Day by asking you to share some of your favorite puns—some of which even made it …
Legally, to trademark something means to make it so that only one company can make money off of something with that name. You might not realize it, but many of the seemingly generic words we use all of the time are or were registered trademarks. This is often a problem for companies who want to avoid their lucrative trademarks being killed by “genericide,” meaning they …
A babywearing dad. A former White House photographer. A long-running TV show. What do they all have in common? Spots on the Dictionary.com Trending Words of the Week list for October 12–19, 2018! Emasculate British TV presenter Piers Morgan took aim at actor Daniel Craig this week, poking fun at the James Bond star for babywearing his little girl. Morgan hashtagged the potshot #EmasculatedBond, sending …
It seems like a rite of passage for most kids: your first made-up language. Whether you devised it with a sibling or wrote in a diary only you could translate, there was an allure in concealing your communication in code. The appeal doesn’t dissipate as we grow older, either. Take Igpay Atinlay. Pig Latin, that is. Plenty of parents still use it to speak about things they don’t …
