Wordplay

Arts & Culture (page 9)

How 'Facepalm' Became a Word

A gesture of exasperation, disappointment, or stress

Vocab On Fleek

On fleek or not, fleek is a word worth knowing

A New Meaning of the Verb 'Ghost'

A New Word We're Watching

Why Jaywalking is Called Jaywalking

The shape of the letter J has nothing to do with it

What does 'cisgender' mean?

If your birth announcement still feels accurate to your gender, then you're cis

Say Bye-bye to Microbeads

Now you see them, soon you won't—at least not in the store

Hoverboard

A look at early imaginings of floating skateboards

10 Sherlock Holmes Words Worth Investigating

The language in Sherlock Holmes is as intriguing as the stories.

Bio Break

Tech slang goes mainstream

The Eggcorn Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

It sounds like the right word, but it's not.

Star Wars and Plain Words

How simple language made a movie more realistic.

A New Meaning of 'Liftoff'

What the Federal Reserve means by 'liftoff'.

Words We're Watching: A New Sense of 'Ship'

A New Meaning Of An Old Word That We're Watching

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2015

The events that drove the top lookups in 2015.

Frank Sinatra: Too Marvelous for Words

The one Sinatra recording that defies definition

Microaggression: A Not So Subtle Growth in Usage

So, where are you from?

Crash Blossom

A confusing headline that gave rise to a whole new term for the genre.

What is Health Span?

How does health span differ from life span?

Words that Come from Characters in Books

A who's who of literary allusions

Where did that h/t come from?

And what exactly does it mean?

What Are 'Practical Effects'?

Or, How Star Wars Was Made

What is ragtime?

E.L. Doctorow's (1931-2015) famous novel celebrated this syncopated music

The 'Athleisure' Trend

Athleisure: Words We're Watching

What is Cakeage

Cakeage: Words We're Watching

Heroin, Granola, & More: Products That Became Words

Top 10 Words from Trademarks

Mx. - A Gender-Neutral Honorific

Words We're Watching

What does 'ICYMI' mean?

ICYMI: Words We're Watching

Mansplaining

Words We're Watching

The Joy of Tom Swifties

Funny and Exuberant Puns That Turn Adverbs into Punchlines

That Shrinking Feeling

Shrinkflation

'Valar Morghulis' and the Histories of Game of Thrones Words

From Septon to Smallclothes

Showrunners Go Mainstream

More than producer, more than writer

Food Words Worth Savoring

Piquant, ambrosial, and more

What's a chyron?

It's that thing at the bottom of your TV screen

A New Meaning of 'Optics'

Of the political, not the optometric variety

The Rise of "Fat Bikes" – Big Wheels for the Snow

Fat Bike

As Marijuana Goes Mainstream, So Does Its Slang

Budtender

Downton Abbey Terms Americans May Not Be Familiar With

Just how important is an Earl?

What's a 'Lady' in the British Aristocracy?

A guide to one of the most-used titles on Downton Abbey

Word of the Year Retrospective

Editors Choose Their Favorite Words from the Past Decade

2014 Word of the Year: Culture

Here's What this Year's Top Lookups Say About Us

Talking Turkey at Thanksgiving

The best way to avoid uncomfortable conversation at Thanksgiving? Talk about the food.

Seen & Heard: Good Quotes From Great Books

Favorite "Seen & Heard" Comments from Readers

Favorite Pictures in the Dictionary

Exotic & Intriguing Things, Well Illustrated

Pictures in the Dictionary

The story of those iconic illustrations.

In the Details: Architecture Terms Worth Looking At

Keystone, mansard, newel, and more

Top 10 Words from the Bible

'Forbidden Fruit', 'Armageddon', 'Good Samaritan' & More

Where Did 'Hip Hop' Get Its Name?

Top 10 Words of the '80s

Language Inspired by Filmmakers

'Hitchcockian,' 'Felliniesque,' and other styles inspired by film legends

What Crisis Did 'Celebutante' Emerge From?

Top 10 Mashup Words

Top 10 Words of the '00s

When 'google' became a verb
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