by Kory Stamper published September 25th, 2018 Is hysterical a gendered insult? It began, unsurprisingly, on cable TV. In 2017, the Senate intelligence committee called Attorney General Jeff Sessions to testify about his Russian contacts as well as conversations about those contacts with Donald Trump prior to the 2016 general election. The hearings were widely discussed, as were all things having to do with Russia, but they …
Q: Do dads always tell dad jokes? A: You tell me—I didn’t know doodads could tell jokes at all! Sorry. We know you have real questions about dad jokes, including: What is a dad joke? When does a joke become a dad joke? Are dad jokes supposed to be funny? And why are they called dad jokes? We’ll answer these questions and more, and we’ll …
Kylie Jenner. The Bachelorette. Wiz Khalifa. The July 6–13, 2018 edition of trending words is absolutely star-studded. So let’s dive in! Self-made Is Kylie Jenner a self-made billionaire? That’s how Forbes labelled her this week, and it left plenty of folks curious about just what it means to be self-made. How curious? Searches rose 864,100% on Wednesday! The answer to the query, of course, is …
Whether you’re an astrology devotee or a casual observer, you’re probably familiar with sun signs and horoscopes. But what would you say if someone asked what zodiac sign resides in your eighth house? Houses are kind of a big deal in astrology, but we aren’t talking about the ones with roofs and walls. These houses contain zodiac signs and planets that can tell you more …
Two important Muslim holidays stand out as some of the most important dates on the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr in the spring and Eid al-Adha in the summer. They are separate festivals, and each commemorates a different pillar in the Five Pillars of Islam. However, both are commonly shortened to simply Eid, and the greeting Eid Mubarak (roughly meaning “Happy Eid” or “Blessed Eid”) can be used for both. …
It was the interview heard ’round the world, so what happened when Stormy Daniels showed up on 60 Minutes to talk about her alleged affair with President Donald Trump? Let’s just say searches on Dictionary.com heated up this week, March 24–30, 2018! Perched and affair Twitter was abuzz the evening of March 25 as Daniels described the way the president perched on a bed. Searches for …
Cite, site, and sight are classic homophones: they sound the same, but differ in meaning (and spelling). Cite is most commonly used as a verb in the context of facts, sources, and academic papers. Site is most commonly used as a noun in the context of locations and places. And sight is used in the context of seeing and things that are seen. Sounds straightforward, …
![List of words in white outline, with central word in bold purple font, on lilac background: “pseudonym, synonym, caconym, inaptonym [in bold], metonym, backronym, retronym"](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220426_NYM_800x800-380x380.png)
We love to look at words, and today the name of the game is words that end in -nym. The ending -nym or, most often, -onym is a combining form from Greek that means “name.” Apparently, we love naming names because there are a whole bunch of words that end in -nym. Some of these words are pretty common, but we managed to find quite …
