The March 2017 update to Dictionary.com included over 300 new words and definitions, reflecting everything from news stories to fashion trends. We also updated several existing Dictionary.com entries. Once again, many new words came straight from the headlines, from Black Lives Matter and Burkini to alt-right and clicktivism. Some words like 420 and Kush reflect broader acceptance of marijuana use and culture, as it’s becoming …
Donald Trump took the oath of office on Friday, January 20, 2017 and officially became the 45th President of the United States of America. Everyone has an opinion on the word choices and speaking styles of politicians, and speeches from world leaders often cause words to spike in lookups on Dictionary.com. Inauguration and inaugurate (to induct into office with formal ceremonies; to install) were the top lookups …
After his second and final term, President Barack Obama gave his farewell speech Tuesday, January 10 in Chicago, the city that launched his rise to national prominence. Word choices and speech patterns of our world leaders are a constant source of discussion (and comedy skits), as every administration has a style and at least one tic. Long known as an effective public speaker, Obama peppered …
The noun ghost has been around a very long time, since before 900, when Old English was spoken. Originally it referred to the soul of a dead person or a disembodied spirit, and this meaning is still in use. In the recent past, ghost and ghosting have expanded in meaning, and today this term is often evoked in relation to dating. How do you know if …
In our November 2015 update to the dictionary, we added more than 150 new words and definitions, and revised over 1,000 entries. New additions such as feels, yaaas, and doge highlight the role of social media in transmitting and popularizing new terms, while fitness tracker, digital wallet, and Internet of Things demonstrate the new ways that technological innovation is changing the way we live and …
In a spring 2015 update to the dictionary, we added more than a thousand new and modified definitions including gaming words like esports, permadeath and completionist, terms to prepare you for the 2016 elections like slacktivism, and gender-related terms agender, bigender, and gender-fluid.But how do lexicographers (the people who compile and update dictionaries) stay on top of language change? Luckily, we have a number of …
While Kim Kardashian was busy “breaking the Internet” with her controversial photoshoot for Paper in November of 2014, New Zealand singer/songwriter Lorde was teaching the world—or at least her Twitter and Tumblr followers—about a new slang use of the word mom. How is mom used on the internet? These three little letters tweeted out by Lorde in response to Kardashian’s cover photo caused such confusion that the 18-year-old …
What does manic pixie dream girl mean? In 2007, film critic Nathan Rabin coined the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl in an attempt to classify Kirsten Dunst’s role in Elizabethtown. He first described this stock romantic character as a woman who “exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” Since the …