Our 2018 Word of the Year Is … Misinformation The rampant spread of misinformation poses new challenges for navigating life in 2018. As a dictionary, we believe understanding the concept is vital to identifying misinformation in the wild, and ultimately curbing its impact. But what does misinformation mean? Dictionary.com defines it as “false information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.” The …
Ah, December, that time of year when store fronts are festooned with holiday decorations, and another year is reaching its close. If you live in the northern hemisphere, December might mean pulling off your boots so you can curl up with your smartphone and read Dictionary.com (hey, we can dream). But, what does December mean in the Dictionary? And, where did the 12th month of …
Thanksgiving season got you feeling gallinaceous? Peck at this week’s Word of the Day Quiz. If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Interested in Words of the Day from the past? Check out this one that we brought to life … Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it with your friends …
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! Cheesecake If there’s one thing Americans love, it’s food. We have a whole holiday centered around consuming it, after all! …
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 to find meaning. Excelsior Marvel fans mourned the loss of one of the comic book industries superheroes this week. Stan Lee died at age 95, leaving behind the legendary characters he created or co-created, including Black …
Boys will be boys. It’s an idiom we hear tossed around far too often. But, what does it actually mean, and why did we ever start saying it? And … what about girls—who or what will they be? Who decided boys will be boys, anyway? The phrase boys will be boys was first recorded in English in 1589. It originated from a Latin proverb: “Children (boys) …
Ah, New York—the city that gave the world the Trumps, the 2016 Broadway revival of Cats, and countless regional slang terms that made their way into the national lexicon. We all know that terms like Wall Street and fuggedaboutit are classic five-borough speak, but check out the following Big Apple words that are used nationwide. flea market The Dutch were the first immigrants to New …
