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word of the year 2018 woty behind the scenes
Words of the Year

2018 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski discusses 'justice' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2018 selections


How did we choose justice as our Word of the Year? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and how this and the other Words of the Year reflect what was on people's minds this year.

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play word of the year 2018 woty behind the scenes
2018 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

How we chose 'justice'

play backward index mystery
The True Story of the Backward Index

 

These people needed a computer

play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

 

How to remember which is which

play sneaked vs snuck video
Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

play ismo merriam webster one
Some Odd Words with ISMO: "The One-derful Won"

 

Comedian ISMO tries to figure out 'one' and 'two'

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Is It 'day today' or 'day-to-day'?

 

What about Day Tomorrow?

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A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

 

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
petit-fours
Name That Dessert! Hope you’ve saved room for some sweet vocabulary.
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