From the Dictionary.com Word of the Year to NASA’s years-long mission to land a spacecraft on Mars, the words that trended in searches this week are out of this world (if we do say so ourselves). Ready? Set? Learn! Misinformation It’s official! The Dictionary.com Word of the Year is misinformation, a word we chose after careful consideration. We’re glad to see from your dictionary searches …
There’s nothing like sitting down to fill out the holiday cards and realizing you’re not quite sure what to do with your apostrophe. Do you wish your friends and family season’s greetings? Or, should it be seasons’ greetings? Maybe you can just bypass that pesky punctuation altogether? Hey, if you’re sloppy enough, the smudged ink might just make it unclear one way or the other …
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 …
Hanukkah has commenced. So has Chanukah, Hannukah, Hannukkah, and Channukah. Confused? We don’t blame you. Why is this Jewish holiday, also known as the Festival of Lights, spelled in so many ways? The right way to spell Hanukkah The answer comes down to transliteration. Unlike translation, transliteration is when you “change (letters, words, etc.) into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.” In Hebrew, the language …
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! …
For many, Cyber Monday provides the perfect shopping solution: all the holiday deals with none of the holiday crowds. But, where did the name Cyber Monday come from? How Cyber Monday got its name Cyber Monday was first used in 2005 by the National Retail Federation to encourage people to shop online. It referred then (and still does) to the Monday following Black Friday (the day …
After Thanksgiving feasts come Black Friday sales. But, where did Black Friday come from? Black Friday myths While many people believe the term Black Friday finds its roots in the sense of black meaning “showing a profit; not showing any losses,” this isn’t actually the case. Historically, black has been associated with days of economic stress as opposed to days of booming commercial success. The first Black …
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 …
