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

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

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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
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Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law

Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might

Foreign

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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
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Games & Hobbies

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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
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Insults

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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
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Science & Nature

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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.
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