This September, we released our biggest update to the dictionary ever. Our dictionary editors touched over 15,000 entries in a sweeping effort to reflect the many ways language is evolving. From capitalizing Black to adding a separate entry for Pride to revising references to suicide, our update addresses topics that touch us on some of our most personal levels: race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, …
Which amendment gives us freedom of speech? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. —First Amendment to the Constitution We Americans love to refer to the First …
by Alyssa Pereira Historic protests against racial inequality. National debates over offensive names of sports team names and conflicts over the place of Confederate monuments in our culture. Arguments about border walls, language barriers—rising tensions over immigration despite an increasingly diverse populace. In this cultural moment, the concepts of race and ethnicity have never been more important to grasp. They’ve also never been so complicated …
July 17 is World Emoji Day, a day to celebrate all of those wonderful smileys and symbols you use to amuse your friends and confuse your grandparents. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up the most popular emoji that our users have been looking up on Dictionary.com since the last World Emoji day. (It was quite a different world then, wasn’t it?) But first, you might be …
From mass shootings to natural disasters, it seems like every day, there’s a new tragedy on the news. With social media amplifying these stories, more and more people are offering their condolences than ever before. And one of the most popular phrases online? “Thoughts and prayers.” While theories on the history of the phrase “thoughts and prayers” vary, it is often traced back to the …
If you hang out around surfers long enough, chances are you’ll overhear them talking about a gnarly wave or a sick run. But what if they’re chatting about their housekeeping woes, and a gnarly living room or nasty kitchen? (Not cool, dude!) Does that make the words gnarly, sick, and nasty synonyms? This gets tricky because in addition to having various definitions, each word can be used …
Oh, Florida. Filled with gorgeous beaches from coast to coast, prolific fresh produce, and sunshine all year, Florida is known as a great place to vacation, live, and retire. It’s also known for being a wee bit of unconventional. No offense to the 27th state in our great nation, but it does seem to be the setting for more than its fair share of, let’s …
You probably don’t need any data to know that 2020 has been like no other year in recent history—and it’s only half over. But, for those of us fortunate enough to have the opportunity to reflect, some data can help us take stock at this midyear mark on just how transformative 2020 has been. All around the world, COVID-19 has changed our health, jobs, relationships, …
As the George Floyd protests have grown and spread, many activists have been calling to defund the police. Whether chanted in demonstrations or posted as hashtags on social media, the phrase defund the police has proven to be a forceful rallying cry. People are listening. But, people are also asking questions. What does it mean, exactly, to defund the police? Indeed, it seems many people …
There are only two official languages in the Philippines, a nation in Southeast Asia: English and Filipino, which is a standardized form of Tagalog, a language indigenous to the islands. Over the years, Tagalog speakers have adopted countless words and expressions into their language, resulting in a unique dialect: Taglish (a combination of Tagalog and English). But the exchange has gone the other way, too. …
