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A Thanksgiving Word Quiz

We are thankful for obscure words.

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Do You "Party Hearty" or "Party Hardy" (or Both)?

Read this into the night.

How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

And is one way more correct than the others?

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11 "Problems" Inspired by Animal Names

Cans of worms, wild-goose chases, and more

Appelbaum: 'Gaslighting' Not a Word

It is a word, though.

Latest Video

How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

And is one way more correct than the others?

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Ghost Word

The story of an imaginary word that managed to sneak past our editors and enter the dictionary.

2017 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

How we chose 'feminism'

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Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

The Serial Comma

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

peter_talk_about_word_of_the_year_2016

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

How we chose 'surreal'

Hot Mess

"The public is a hot mess"

Malaprop

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

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Alright vs. All Right

Is 'alright' all right?

backward-index-mystery

The True Story of the Backward Index

These people needed a computer

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Is None Singular or Plural?

Or both? Or neither?

there-theyre-their-video

There, They're, Their

There, there. We'll sort it out.

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Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?

The awkward case of 'his or her'

sneaked-vs-snuck-video

Sneaked vs. Snuck

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

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2015 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about our Word of the Year selections.

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How to Read a French Menu

How to amuse-bouche without begging pardon for your French

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Further vs. Farther

They started as same word, but their meanings have drifted apart over time.

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Lay vs. Lie

Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.

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Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

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

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Fun, Funner, Funnest

Why does it sound strange to say 'funner' or 'funnest?'

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2014 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

The inside scoop behind our 2014 Word of the Year selections.

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Webster's Dictionary of 1864

The landmark edition that transformed the way dictionaries are made.

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Old-School Grammar

Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.

Schwa

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

Cynic

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

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WORD OF THE DAY

noisome

noxious or harmful

Test Your Vocabulary

A Thanksgiving Word Quiz

November comes from a word for which of the following numbers?

9 12
11 10

Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Ask the Editors

Word Games