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Est. 1828
Wordplay
For the love of language
We Added 690 New Words to the Dictionary for September 2023
Ngl, this update is a big one
Another Ten Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary
Simple But Intelligent Word Choices, Vol. 3
9 More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
How to tell your butoxy from your hawsehole
Arts & Culture
Obscure & Fun
Foreign
Games & Hobbies
Insults
Science & Nature
Word History
word
choices
(a Merriam-Webster Video Series)
Celebrated writers share their quest to find the
right words.
Gabrielle Zevin
Novelist
Emily Flake
New Yorker
Cartoonist
Celeste Ng
Novelist
Eli Cymet
Video Game Writer/Producer,
Cuphead
Emma Straub
Novelist and Children’s Book Author
Ophira Eisenberg
Stand-Up Comic
Popular
Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5
So beautiful. So useless.
Words for Lazy People and Laziness
Indolence, Malingerer, Draffsack: the right word for when you just don't have the energy
Dice, Dice, Baby: 8 Dungeons & Dragons Words
Chaotic and good, like English itself
The Words of the Week - Sept. 29
Lookups from the Republican debates, the picket lines, and the armed services
9 Whiskery Words for Facial Hair
A tonsorial tutorial
Rare and Amusing Insults, Volume 3
Useful words for everyday interactions
Not Nice and Too Nice: A Collection of Dysphemisms and Euphemisms
Words to soothe and annoy
12 Words From Basketball
Plus a few terms that never quite made it
Arts & Culture
See All
What Does 'Eighty-Six' Mean?
We won't refuse you service
The Changing Meaning of 'Elope'
Read this before you elope. Or 'elope.'
The History of 'Nuclear Family'
Getting at the core of it.
17 Tasty Names of Appetizers
Enjoy. They're complimentary.
Word We're Watching: 'Cap'
And where 'no cap' comes from
See All
Obscure & Fun
Obscure & Fun
Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 4
More words, more beautiful, more useless
Read
13 Wonderful Words That You're Not Using (Yet)
Words as delightful as they are rare
Read
Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 1
Some may be more useful than others.
Read
10 Words for Uncommon Colors
Color names taken from paintings, flowers, fleas & more
Read
See All
12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law
Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might
Foreign
See All
All About Latin Plurals
Check your dictionary
8 Words We Stole from French
Spoiler: We stole way more than 8
Digging Up the Latin Roots of 14 Abbreviations
Beyond 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'
Skunk, Bayou, and Other Words with Native American Origins
You've used more than you might think
Words With London Origins
Essential words for Anglophiles
See All
Games & Hobbies
See All
Know Your Baseball Idioms
Our national pastime. No, the other one.
The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'
A delicious question
A Player's Guide to 'Q' without 'U' Words
Remember this and win.
9 Idioms from American Football
Tackle these phrases from the gridiron.
What It Means to ‘Touch Base’
Just checking in with it
See All
Insults
See All
You Talk Too Much: 8 Words for the Wordy
You can't shut them up, but you can label them
7 Shakespearean Insults to Make Life More Interesting
One for each day of the week
The Origin of 'Hypocrite'
This one's surprisingly dramatic
Top 10 Sophisticated Insults
A list we hope you don't find 'insipid'
The Clinical History of 'Moron,' 'Idiot,' and 'Imbecile'
The words have a less-than-savory past
See All
Science & Nature
See All
7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens
Don't ask us which came first
12 Pairs of Commonly Confused Animal Words
The animal words went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!
The Many Origin Stories of 'Nerd'
Theories from there to back again
Helium: This Word Brought to You by a Solar Eclipse
And by the Sun, with some help from Greek.
The Stories Behind 10 Flower Names
...and how hard each is to rhyme
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Word History
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10 Common Words with Military Origins
'Skedaddle', 'ginormous', and more
7 Good Stories That Just Aren't True
No, that's not where that word comes from
14 Words Inspired by Dogs
A lexicographer's best friend
'Ganef', 'Galoot', and 7 More Historical Slang Terms We Love
'Hella' is in hella good company
Etymologies for Every Day of the Week
The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.
See All