We’re only a quarter of the way through 2019, but already we’ve seen some significant trends in searches on Dictionary.com. Politics, as ever, has propelled many of the lookups, but that’s not the only driver. Sneak peek: Top terms range from pad thai to deep space. Here are the words setting the search trends through March 2019: 1. Exonerate Our top lookup in early 2019 …
What do Cardi B and Vice President Mike Pence’s wife Karen Pence have in common? They both helped put words on the most searched list from January 11–18, 2019! Contumacious Second Lady Karen Pence made headlines January 15 with an announcement that she accepted a job as an art teacher at a conservative Christian school in Virginia. The vice president’s wife landed on the trending …
by Ashley AustrewBoyfriend or girlfriend. Husband or wife. Significant other. Bae. There are a lot of different words one could use to describe the person with whom they’re in a romantic relationship. But, the one word that is most quickly redefining the way we talk about relationships is partner. Is First Partner the future? Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who is married to California’s newest governor, Gavin Newsom, …
From Glenn Close at the Golden Globes to Cyntoia Brown in Tennessee, here’s who (and what) had folks searching for meaning on Dictionary.com the week of January 4–11, 2019. Humanitarian President Donald Trump made his first-ever address to the nation from the Oval Office this week, so it’s no surprise that folks tuned in to see what he had to say, or that plenty stuck …
Thanks to the holidays, we’re serving up two weeks worth of words that have trended on Dictionary.com! From Santa Claus to outer space, here’s what had folks searching for meaning December 21, 2018–January 4, 2019. Ultima Thule Space fans spent the week watching as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by the most distant space object ever explored. Dubbed Ultima Thule, the object is some 4 billion miles …
What could words like laurel, dog whistle, lodestar, and self-made possibly have in common? These words and others like them sent hundreds of thousands of folks to Dictionary.com in 2018, searching for answers. Whether you were challenging your friends and family to declare themselves #TeamLaurel or #TeamYanny or playing armchair detective with the words in a cryptic New York Times op-ed, Dictionary.com was here to …
Do you have your eyes on the news? Here are the words that made headlines and drove searches December 14–21, 2018 on Dictionary.com! Prognosticator The word prognosticator tends to get its biggest use in February, when a groundhog is hauled out to forecast the arrival of spring. But the noun, which means “one who forecasts or predicts (something future) from present indications or signs,” jumped onto …
From the sentencing of the president’s former attorney to the holiday season, there’s plenty going on to drive word searches on Dictionary.com. Here are some of the biggest search spikes of December 7–14, 2018! Synergy Searches for the meaning of synergy spiked 1,561% in response to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s use of the word in court filings. Mueller alleged that Michael Cohen, former attorney for …
We could always cancel our plans or a magazine subscription, but these days it’s people who are up for cancelation. The verb cancel dates back to the days of medieval Latin, meaning “to cross out.” It’s only in the past couple of years that it’s been used to declare people null and void. Everyone from Kanye West to Lena Dunham has now been labelled as “canceled” …
From the funeral of a former president to an international soccer trade, here’s what made words trend on Dictionary.com the week of From the funeral of a former president to an international soccer trade, here’s what made words trend on Dictionary.com the week of November 30–December 7, 2018! Jefe The loss of President George H.W. Bush was felt across the nation, and his long-time friend …
Food, food, glorious food made its presence known in a big way on this Thanksgiving week edition of the Dictionary.com Trending Words list. From a rarely used plural for beef to a beef over the proper way to describe cheesecake, here’s what had you searching November 16–23, 2018! Cheesecake If there’s one thing Americans love, it’s food. We have a whole holiday centered around consuming …
From the loss of one of the world’s superheroes to the happenings on the world stage, take a look at the news stories that made people scurry to Dictionary.com November 9–16, 2018 to find meaning. Excelsior Marvel fans mourned the loss of one of the comic book industries superheroes November 12. Stan Lee died at age 95, leaving behind the legendary characters he created or …
