There was a time when porn was a dirty word that referred to something that people in polite society don’t talk about. Today, the word porn is thrown around for a wide range of far less risqué topics. Perhaps you’ve browsed some food porn on social media, for example, or have scanned through a stream of house porn images for decoration inspiration. Porn has become …
We heard it over and over again: 2020 was an unprecedented year. (Although 2021 is certainly doing its best to pick up where 2020 left off …) Our users agreed, choosing the word unprecedented as the People’s Choice Word of the Year. 2020 was, without a doubt, an extraordinary year—and it set off an extraordinary year for language, too, including compelling us to name the …
On January 6, 2021, a mob at a protest rally in support of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building on the day Congress was set to certify the electoral vote count to confirm Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. As people processed this shocking event, they debated how to refer to the participants in the siege. Should the people who invaded the Capitol, even if …
On January 6, 2021, interest in the words insurrection, sedition, treason, and coup all surged on on Dictionary.com after a mob of supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building on the day Congress was set to certify the electoral vote count to confirm Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. Many journalists, political analysts, and politicians all used these very serious—and consequential—words to refer to …
… and the people have spoken! We’ve tallied the thousands of responses we received for our People’s Choice 2020 Word of the Year, and the results are, well, unprecedented. That’s right, the top submission was unprecedented, just edging our own official selection for Word of the Year, pandemic. Is it just us, or are we sensing a pattern here? Now, we know many of you …
by Rory Gory No matter your sexual orientation or gender identity, all people have something in common. There are many things in life that we can choose or change, such as how we decide to express ourselves, the relationships we commit to, or the dreams we pursue. And then there are things in life that happen to us whether or not we want them to: …
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 …
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 …
What a year 2020 has been—and it’s not even over yet! With any new global event, new words tend to pop up, for better or worse, and the COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. We know many of the world’s greatest debates are held forth, of course, on Twitter. What color was that dress: blue or gold? (Definitely blue.) After watching Tiger King, did you realize …
