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Words Matter

Webster's Dictionary of 1864

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

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play video websters video of 1864
Webster's Dictionary of 1864

 

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

play video mischievous nulcear library mispronunciations
'Mispronunciations' That May Be Fine

 

'Mischievous,' 'nuclear,' and other words to pronounce with caution.

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

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Some Odd Words with ISMO: "The One-derful Won"

 

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

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Hot Mess

 

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings

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A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

 

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

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How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the 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 Word Game You can make only 12 words. Pick the best ones!
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?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...