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Kenny Smith: What is a 'Catamount'?

Vermont enters the Round of 64

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A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

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Original Meanings Quiz

A quiz for the pedantic and those annoyed by them!

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‘Incommunicado’: We Won’t Be Silent on the Subject

When you just can't talk right now.

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8 Words for Small Amounts

When just a touch will do

Latest Video

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A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

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When Body Parts Are Also Verbs

Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes

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Some Odd Words with ISMO: "Junk in the Trunk"

Comedian ISMO on what separates a boot from a trunk

ismo-merriam-webster-tip

Some Odd Words with ISMO: "People Tipping"

Comedian ISMO on the complexities of the word 'tip'

ismo-merriam-webster-one

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

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

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2018 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

How we chose 'justice'

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?

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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?

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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'

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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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WORD OF THE DAY

hamartia

a flaw that causes the downfall of a hero

Test Your Vocabulary

Original Meanings Quiz

Which of the following is the earliest known sense of the word awe?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

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Dictionary Devil

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

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