✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Learn More!
✨📕 The NEW Collegiate Dictionary — Learn More!

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video literally
Literally

How to use a word that (literally) drives some people nuts

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

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

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.

video drive safe ly
Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

You don't have to end all your adverbs in -ly to talk right.

video soup vs soop
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut

video hopefully
Hopefully

Contrary to what your teachers may have said, we believe the popular usage of this word is correct. Hopefully you agree.

video ending a sentence with a preposition
Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

An old-fashioned rule we can no longer put up with.

video who vs whom
Who vs. Whom

Good news for those who feel stuffy saying 'whom.'

video affect vs effect
Affect vs. Effect

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

merriam-webster word icons mariah carey christmastime
Mariah Carey & 'Christmastime'

Legendary figures and the words that define them

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Listen to the pronunciation of eminently

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Test Your Vocabulary

Challenging Standardized Test Words, Vol. 2

  • a pencil broken in half on top of a test answer sheet
  • The business’s new computer system proved not to be a panacea.
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