play word of the year 2018 woty behind the scenes
Up Next
Title
CANCEL
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.

Up next

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

 

How we chose 'justice'

play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play illustrated notebook that says everyday vs every day
'Everyday' vs. 'Every Day'

 

A simple trick to keep them separate

play merriam-webster eggcorns title page
What Is an Eggcorn?

 

And how did it get that name?

play video how a word gets into the dicionary
How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

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

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

play video cynic
The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.

Games & Quizzes

See All
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
alt-633b10471e2d4
Name That Thing MegaQuiz: Vol. 2 Test your visual vocabulary!
See All