Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
dictionary thesaurus view recents
assortment of food on table
Tasty Only in Afterthought: 6 Words That Didn’t Always Describe Food

We use these words to describe food, but they began their lexical lives in other territories

boris johnson speaking at g7
BoJo: 'A Stitch in Time Saves Nine'

BoJo discusses lockdown restrictions

child holding iphone with puku on screen with puku logo in the corner
Set your young readers up for lifelong success

Build vocab with Puku today!

compass on multicolored background
Are We Entering 'Uncharted' or 'Unchartered' Waters?

We'll map it out for you.

three bears two of them look like theyre whispering to a third bear who looks chuffed to be the center of attention
Homophone Quiz

More/moor than/then two/too/to.

Words At Play

compass on multicolored background
smoke billowing from tower
assortment of food on table
airport arrivals board
chrysanthemums in autumn

Recent Posts

Words We're Watching

girl learning remotely
'Pod': A Collective Noun for Students

A word for in school and at sea

empty stadium seats
The New 'Bubble' Popping Up in Sports
Read
white-shirts-on-hangers
Words We’re Watching: ‘Normie’
Read
woman-watching-tv-on-laptop
Words We’re Watching: ‘Headcanon’
Read

Usage & Grammar

Commonly Confused

open notebook on table
An Explication on the Use of 'Explicit' and 'Implicit'

Making things clear

woman at the top of mountain photo
'Utmost' vs 'Upmost': Utter Confusion Resolved
Read
hands-clasped-photo
'Confidant' vs. 'Confident' vs. 'Confidante'
Read
lens-flare-photo
Snuffing Out Confusion Between 'Flare' and 'Flair'
Read
SEE ALL WORDS AT PLAY

WORD OF THE DAY

nepotism

Listen to the pronunciation of nepotism

See Definitions and Examples »

Test Your Vocabulary

Homophone Quiz

  • three bears two of them look like theyre whispering to a third bear who looks chuffed to be the center of attention
  • In order to judge how people felt, the senator's office hired a firm to take a ______.
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Add Diction

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

TAKE THE QUIZ
TRENDING NOW

  1. a stitch in time (saves nine) BoJo discusses lockdown restrictions

  2. phosphine Phosphine found on Venus

  3. sedition Caputo makes claims about CDC scientists

SEE ALL
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Ask the Editors
Word Games