Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online now features "Ask the Editor" videos throughout the online dictionary. Our lexicographers address etymology and usage issues, words in the news, frequently-asked language questions and more. Stay tuned: new videos will be posted periodically. Please visit the archives to view them all. Enjoy!
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Visitors to Merriam-Webster Online in 2009 were intrigued by the language associated with national and international issues of all sorts: economical, medical, personal and political. Words like furlough, pandemic, philanderer and rogue dominated the headlines and subsequent lookups at the site. After Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during a speech made by President Obama, "admonish"—defined in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition as "to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner"—received the highest intensity of lookups over the shortest period of time, ensuring its place as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2009. Check out the rest of the Top Ten here.
When you stumble across a word you are convinced should be in Merriam-Webster's dictionaries, there is only one thing to do: send it in! Our Open Dictionary is a simple way to submit new words and senses you encounter while reading magazines, books, and newspapers. Your submission might appear on Merriam-Webster Online and have a chance to qualify for Word of the Year honors. Start typing out your citations here.
Put on your spacesuit and board the international space station in the astronautics section of Merriam-Webster's Visual Dictionary Online. This interactive site allows you to visit different continents, eras—even other planets—all at the click of a button. Full-color illustrations and clear, concise definitions make Visual Dictionary Online the perfect resource for visual learners everywhere.
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