Dictionary Week culminated with Word Inspiration Day. What inspires us is you—and all the ways you use Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com to express yourselves. Here at “D-com,” as we call it, we have a tradition in which new team members share the words that best tell us who they are. We extended that tradition to you—but with a twist. We asked you to tell us: What one word would you want …
Building a dictionary is the work of lexicographers, the people who write and edit dictionary entries. Samuel Johnson, for example, published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 and is often heralded as the father of English lexicography. As you might guess, however, the work of building and maintaining a dictionary requires large teams of dedicated individuals who are passionate about language—and many of …
When you look up words on Dictionary.com, you’ll encounter all kinds of labels on terms and their definitions. Taken in combination with the definitions, these labels are intended to help you understand how words are used. Some labels, like noun and verb, are straightforward, but the meanings of others, such as Disparaging, Archaic, and Literary, may be much less obvious. To help clarify and demystify …
The words breath and breathe are only one letter apart and have very similar meanings, so it can be easy to get them confused. In this article, we will define the words breath and breathe, explain how they are used differently, identify some words with a similar pattern, and provide examples that show how we typically use breath and breathe in sentences. The word breath …
By Lyndsey Gresehover You’ve completed the brainstorming and research. You have created an essay outline that serves as your roadmap (or “skeleton” as some call it) and have even finished the writing. However, there is still one more equally important step to ensure your paper has all the required elements … your writing checklist. Checklists are tools we use in lots of things we do. …
We tried to think of a pun about dictionaries for this introduction, but thinking so hard gave us a headache—it’s thesaurus our head has ever been! Welcome to the Dictionary.com Pun Hall of Fame. Home of good puns, bad puns, funny puns, and the most groan-inducing puns in all the land. If you’ve got a pun-believable pun, share it with us, and you, too, might …
They say crime doesn’t pay, but people who commit extortion and blackmail would probably disagree. Are these criminals committing the same crime, or will they face different charges? In this article, we will define the words extortion and blackmail, break down the difference between them, and give examples of how they might be applied to different criminal scenarios. What is the difference between extortion and …
Mice and rats have a lot in common beyond their shared insistence on coming uninvited into our homes. However, there are some key differences that set these two animals apart from each other. In this article, we will explain the main differences between mice and rats and how they are related to similar animals. Mice and rats are both rodents, meaning they both belong to …
Aesthetics are having a moment like never before. With the rise of TikTok and Gen Z internet culture has also come a shift in the way people express themselves and their interests. Microtrends, or short-lived viral trends, reign supreme, and many of them naturally divide into certain categories of popular fashion, accessories, and decor known as aesthetics. The 2023 Barbie movie is one major pop …
The words course and coarse are homophones. They’re pronounced exactly the same, but their meanings and usage are very different. In this article, we will define course and coarse, explain how they are typically used, and give examples that show how they are used in sentences. The word course is used as a noun and a verb with many different meanings. Some common meanings as …
Over the past couple years, there has been a lot of buzz around cryptocurrency. The nations of El Salvador and the Central African Republic have even gone so far as to adopt a cryptocurrency as one of their official currencies. However, for those of us who are old school and still use classic dollars and cents, cryptocurrency and its related lingo can be kind of …
