Merriam-Webster
@MerriamWebster
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noun | a reference source containing words alphabetically arranged along with information about their forms, pronunciations, functions, and etymologies
Springfield, MA
Joined December 2009
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We won
@thewebbyawards
for Best Overall Social Presence - People’s Voice. Thank you to all who voted!
We are at a loss for words.
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Wakes up.
Checks Twitter.
.
.
.
Uh...
.
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.
📈 Lookups fo...
.
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.
Regrets checking Twitter.
Goes back to bed.
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'Stand back': to take a few steps backwards
'Stand by': to be or to get ready to act
#Debates2020
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'pore over' 🔍"to read or study very carefully"
'pour over' ☕️"to make expensive coffee"
'comb over' 💇♂️"to comb hair from the side of the head to cover the bald spot"
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People who subscribe to Merriam-Webster Red™ will get exclusive access to the real definitions.
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The word 'doctor' comes from the Latin word for "teacher."
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For those looking up punctuation early on a Friday morning:
A hyphen is a mark - used to divide or to compound words.
An apostrophe is a mark ' used to indicate the omission of letters or figures.
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🏥 heal (to become healthy again)
😈 heel (a contemptible person)
🙋♂️ he'll (he will)
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📈'Volunteer' means “someone who does something without being forced to do it.”
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📈A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality.
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-“‘Helicopter’ does not come from ‘heli’ and ‘copter,’ but from ‘helico’ (from Greek ‘helix’ meaning “spiral”) plus ‘pter’ (from Greek ‘pteron’ meaning “wing”).”
-“Like in ‘pterodactyl’?”
-“Girl, exactly.”
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The nonbinary pronoun 'they' has been added to the dictionary.
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'Transcript': 🎙 a typed copy of dictated or recorded material
'Memorandum': 📝 an informal report or message
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ONE OF THE DEFINITIONS OF 'LITERALLY' IS "IN EFFECT, VIRTUALLY—USED IN AN EXAGGERATED WAY TO EMPHASIZE A STATEMENT OR DESCRIPTION." SOME PEOPLE GET MAD IF YOU USE IT THIS WAY BECAUSE IT ISN'T THE WORD'S PRIMARY MEANING, BUT THIS SENSE OF 'LITERALLY' HAS BEEN USED FOR 250 YEARS SO
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'Yes': an affirmative reply
'No': a negative answer
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As a gift to our friends (you) in a time of crisis, we’ll be keeping a thread here of beautiful, obscure, and often quite useless words.
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People are talking about ‘key bumps,’ and so we have a duty to tell you some things about this.
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*whispers into the void* In contemporary use, fact is understood to refer to something with actual existence.
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Good morning! The
#WordOfTheDay
is...not 'unpresidented'. We don't enter that word. That's a new one.
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This "recently" happened in 1934.
You'll be fine.
It has come to my attention that
@MerriamWebster
recently included “irregardless” as a word.
You think you know a dictionary and then this happens.
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Happy
#DictionaryDay
! In honor of birthday boy Noah Webster, we’re going to take on a probably large, probably ill-advised endeavor.
So.
For every one (1) like of this post, we’ll give you one (1) obscure, unusual, or just fairly interesting word.
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"IRREGARDLESS" HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 1795. ITS INCLUSION IN THE DICTIONARY IS NOT A SIGN OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE FALLING TO PIECES, OR PROOF OF THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM FAILING, NOR IS IT THE WORK OF CURSED MILLENNIALS. IT JUST MEANS A LOT OF PEOPLE USE IT TO MEAN "REGARDLESS."
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summit | noun | a conference of highest-level officials
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This might be the best reply we have ever received.
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'Suborn'
- specifically: to induce to commit perjury
- broadly: to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing
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To address extreme levels of language enthusiasm, we've applied the following temporary limits:
-Writers, Lyricists, and other Professional Wordsmiths: 6000 definition lookups/day
-Thoughtful Readers and Crossword Puzzlers: 600/day
-Everyday English Speakers: 300/day
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📈'Scot-free': completely free from obligation, harm, or penalty
'Scott Free': some guy, probably
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It has been brought to our attention that we've been giving everyone the real definitions since 1828.
Merriam-Webster Red™ has been discontinued.
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'Moot' (n) : ⚖️ a deliberative assembly primarily for the administration of justice; especially : one held by the freemen of an Anglo-Saxon community
'Moat' (n) : 🐊 a deep wide ditch around the walls of a castle or fort that is usually filled with water
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'Fascism' is still our
#1
lookup.
# of lookups = how we choose our Word of the Year.
There's still time to look something else up.
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'Canceled' and 'cancelled' are both standard variants.
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📈Tonight’s top searches, in order: racism, socialism, fascism, concentration camp, xenophobia, bigot
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The word ‘they’
- was looked up 313% more this year than last.
- had a new sense added in September.
- is increasingly common in both public and personal communication.
‘They’ is our 2019
#WordOfTheYear
.
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People keep
1) saying they don't know what 'genderqueer' means
then
2) asking why we added it to the dictionary
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A 'mumpsimus' is a stubborn person who insists on making an error in spite of being shown that it is wrong.
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Here are some of our favorite collective names for animals:
a murder of crows
a tuxedo of penguins
a bask of crocodiles
a destruction of cats
a tower of giraffes
a parliament of owls
a cackle of hyenas
a smack of jellyfish
an ambush of tigers
a wisdom of wombats
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Non-native English Speakers, what’s a word from your language that you think is perfect that doesn’t have an English equivalent?
Take us to church.
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55 Nouns
55 Verbs
55 Adjectives
55 Prepositions
55 Adverbs
100 Conjunctions
100 Gerunds
100 Abbreviations
100 Interjections
100 Onomatopoeias
55 Determiners
55 Acronyms
55 Place Names
55 Participles
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OK, OK.
Here.
Bye.
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It is permissible in English for a preposition to be what you end a sentence with.
The idea that it should be avoided came from writers who were trying to align the language with Latin, but there is no reason to suggest ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong.
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📈'Feminism' is defined as "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities."
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Okay a few people got it.
📈'Impeach' is up 3600%
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📈Top lookups today: father, dad, daddy, honor, concentration camp
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We can confirm that Shohei Ohtani is not in the Merriam-Webster Citation Archives.
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📈We're seeing a 1500% spike on 'cave' this evening.
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DEFCON refers to any one of five levels of readiness used by the U.S. military. DEFCON 5 is used for the lowest perceived threat, and DEFCON 1 for the highest. The word is a blend of 'defense' & 'condition.'
We don't know what 'death con' means, with or without the number 3.
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📈 Top lookups in order: collusion, treason, collude, quid pro quo, kakistocracy
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'Brooding' (as in "sullenly thoughtful or serious") has a literal original meaning of "sitting on eggs."
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2017 saw both a sustained rise in 'feminism' lookups and a number of event-driven spikes.
'Feminism' is our
#WordOfTheYear
.
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The phrase 'priming the pump' dates to the early 19th century.
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Today in Spellcheck Can't Save You:
'Smocking' is a type of embroidery made of many small folds sewn into place.
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Why are they called "eggplants"? Because they used to look like this.
We hope this doesn't mess up your emoji game.
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"We will call the 12th month of the year 'December'... which means 'tenth month.'"
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📈 Kim Jong Un calls Trump a mentally deranged U.S. dotard. Searches for 'dotard' are high as a kite.
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'Hypocrite' comes from the Greek word 'hypokrites,' meaning "an actor."
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'Cisgender' is currently our top lookup.
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The term 'crocodile tears' (a superficial display of anguish) comes from a medieval belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness when killing their prey.
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📈Top searches, in order: treason, abase, traitor, collusion, presser
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📈Top lookups, in order:
repudiation
schadenfreude
president-elect
concede
mandate
incumbent
hallelujah
malarkey
projection
gravitas
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Which words first appeared in print the year you were born?
Time travel with us:
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Doggos.
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📈The
#BTS
comeback announcement has driven a 31,000% spike in searches for 'come prima,' a term meaning “in the same manner as the first time.”
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📈 Top lookups right now: fascism, bigot, racism, complicit, neo-Nazi, nationalism.
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📈Top 5 lookups right now, in order:
1. fascism
2. sex (this is always in the top 10)
3. anathema
4. Svengali
5. bigot
Good night!
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We've updated our Twitter header in honor of the election.
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For all intensive purposes, what idioms or colloquialisms do people seem to constantly get wrong?
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how language IS used > how language “should” be used
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counsel: ⚖ a lawyer appointed to advise and represent in legal matters
council: 🙋an assembly or meeting for consultation or discussion
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Trust us: the feminine form of 'ghostbuster' is 'ghostbuster'.
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Any dictionary can be a pocket dictionary with big enough pants.
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📈 'Pansexual' is our top search today. 👑
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📈 Top searches, in order: sedition, coup d'état, coup, fascism, capitol, breach, insurrection, racism, treason, anarchy, putsch, terrorism, riot
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📈 Lookups for 'schadenfreude' have spiked 30,500%
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'The Ratio': when the whole entire internet gets together to dunk on you
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Here is an interesting adjective quirk that you probably aren’t even aware you are doing.
In English, adjectives seem to follow a specific order:
opinion - size - age - shape - color - origin - material - purpose - noun
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