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Word History

The History of 'Cynic'

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

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

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The History of 'Cynic'

 

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

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How a Ghost Word Appeared in the Dictionary

 

An imaginary word that snuck into the dictionary

play sneaked vs snuck video
Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

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

 

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

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On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

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How to Remember the Spelling of 'Definitely'

 

A definitive answer.

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Webster's Dictionary of 1864

 

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

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
little boy with a magnifying glass looking at footprints
Quiz: Spot the Misspelled Word! Think you can detect a spelling error from a mile...
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