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Est. 1828
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This infographic is part of our series on slang in the dictionary. To read the article that accompanies this piece, click here.

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euphemism

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries.  Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
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Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
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Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
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image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
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Popular

Word History

12 Words Whose History Will Surprise You

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

Funner, Stupider, and Other Words That Are in Fact Real

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Eavesdrop, Fiasco, and 8 More Words with Surprising Origins

See All

Wordplay

14 Words Inspired by Dogs

Stay Woke

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 3

Our Best Historical Slang Terms

See All

Grammar & Usage

'Deduction' vs. 'Induction' vs. 'Abduction'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

See All
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