The Words of the Week - Mar. 14
Dictionary lookups from the federal government, the North Sea, and the New York Times
‘Democracy’
Democracy is a word that has never been out of our top lookup list, and it was a popular lookup again this week.
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, capping the struggle to pass the Voting Rights Act. It was the apex of the civil rights movement—fueled largely by the unimaginable courage of young people, from lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro to the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham to the Freedom Rides to Mississippi Freedom Summer to Selma. … Democracy needs defending, and this generation has a rendezvous to cross its Edmund Pettus Bridge. Defending democracy depends on staying engaged—not retreating into silence and submission.
—Howard L. Simon, The Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2025
Common assumptions about the reasons people look up a word in the dictionary—namely, that a word is very difficult to spell or that it is very rarely encountered—are often false. People also look up familiar words, in order to find more nuance, information, and depth. Most people know democracy refers to a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting, but there are other questions that one might ask, such as what is the difference between a democracy and a republic? The short answer is that democracy and republic are frequently used to mean the same thing: a government in which the people vote for their leaders. This was the important distinction at the time of the founding of the United States, in direct contrast with the rule of a king, or monarchy, in Great Britain. In part because that context was clear to everyone involved in the American Revolution, democracy and republic were used interchangeably in the late 1700s. Both words meant that the power to govern was held by the people rather than a monarch. A slightly longer answer may be found here.
‘Habeas corpus’
Lookups for habeas corpus have been high likely in relation to the developing news about Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Prominent Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana for now following a procedural hearing in New York, days after he was arrested by federal officials at his Columbia University residence in an attempt by the Trump administration to deport him. Khalil was arrested and detained on Saturday over his role in protests against the Israel-Hamas war at Columbia University last spring. His green card was revoked by the Trump administration, his lawyer said, but New York federal Judge Jesse Furman blocked any immediate effort to deport Khalil until his attorneys and the federal government appear in court. … Khalil’s move to Louisiana was “further retaliation,” Kassem said, for exercising his constitutional right to file a habeas corpus petition.
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The literal meaning of habeas corpus is “you should have the body”—that is, the judge or court should (and must) have any person who is being detained brought forward so that the legality of that person’s detention can be assessed. In United States law, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (the full name of what habeas corpus typically refers to) is also called “the Great Writ,” and it is not about a person’s guilt or innocence, but about whether custody of that person is lawful under the U.S. Constitution. Common grounds for relief under habeas corpus—“relief” in this case being a release from custody—include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence; a denial of effective assistance of counsel; or a conviction by a jury that was improperly selected and impaneled.
‘Allision’
Lookups for allision were high early in the week, possibly in relation to news about an accident in the North Sea.
An oil tanker and a cargo vessel collided in the North Sea off the coast of England on Monday causing a large fire and thick black smoke, as a map by Newsweek details the locations of the vessels. … David DeCamp, spokesman for logistics firm Crowley, which manages the tanker Stena Immaculate said the vessel “sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel. A fire occurred as a result of the allision, and fuel was reported released. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.”
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We define allision as “the act or an instance of a ship striking a stationary object (such as another ship that is not underway),” and note that it is distinguished from collision. Some sources, particularly those of a maritime nature, insist that contact between a moving body and a stationary one should only be described with this word, similar to how writing guides used to reserve collision for contact between two moving objects (as recently as 2015 the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage insisted that “only two objects in motion can collide”). However, collision and collide are commonly used to refer to such matters as a ship striking a stationary object, and there is nothing incorrect about such use.
‘Sovereignty’
Sovereignty has also seen high lookups this week.
The United States has imposed some tariffs on Canadian goods, while others are on a reprieve until early April. Next up are 25 percent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports to the United States scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday. … Mr. Trump and his advisers have also raised issues that cut to the very heart of Canada’s sovereignty, including revising a border treaty and water-sharing agreements between the two nations.
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We define the relevant sense of sovereignty as a synonym of autonomy meaning “freedom from external control.”
‘Empathy’
Lookups for empathy have spiked in recent weeks.
The creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood believed there are two qualities that, more than anything else, make an individual great: kindness and empathy. And he felt those qualities are precisely the ones that make America great.
—While Musk said he believes in empathy and that “you should care about other people,” he also thinks it’s destroying society. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit,” Musk said.
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We define empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another,” as well as the capacity for this action. The word is frequently looked up to contrast its meaning with that of sympathy. In short, sympathy refers to a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful, while empathy refers to the act of sharing in the person’s emotional experience.
‘Tovarich’
A jesting use of the word tovarich by a New York Times columnist appears to be responsible for an unusual surge in lookups for the word.
Good thing Trump didn’t make Russian the official language. That’ll be next week, tovarich.
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Tovarich (also spelled tovarish) is a borrowing of the Russian word tovarishch and a synonym of comrade. We define three senses of comrade: “an intimate friend or associate,” “a fellow soldier,” and, from its use as a form of address by communists, “communist.”
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Crocus’
A low-growing plant with a corm, the crocus belongs to the iris family. There are about 75 species of crocus. They are native to the Alps, southern Europe, and the Mediterranean and are widely grown for their cuplike blooms in early spring or fall. The spring-flowering sorts have a floral tube so long that the ovary is below ground, sheltered from climatic changes. The word crocus comes, via Middle English and Latin, from the Greek word krokos, meaning “saffron plant,” and indeed saffron comes from a species of crocus that is native to western Asia, while alpine crocus is the chief ancestor of the common garden crocus.
Right before the entrance to the park was the large white house with the wheelbarrow full of flowers. Short crocus blades sheathed the purple-and-white hearts that so wished to be the first they endured the chill and rain of early spring.
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