by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com In our article on virus vs. bacteria, we noted that vaccines can work on both viruses and bacteria. Antibiotics, however, are only effective against bacteria. But what is an antibiotic, exactly, and how is it different from another, frustratingly similar word: abiotic? And how do both of these words compare to antibody and antigen? This is a …
Update: Voting in the Final Four has ended! Check out the championship round! It’s time to vote on round five of our slang competition at Dictionary.com! After four intense rounds of competition, our March Madness slang bracket has been narrowed down to the Final Four: Karen, OK boomer, low-key, and the struggle is real. The remaining four words in our contest represent an intriguing mix …
There’s nothing worse than getting ensconced in a book that’s building up to a big moment … only to be interrupted and have to put it down before the most exciting part. Are you missing out on the climatic moment? Or was it the climactic scene that got disturbed before you could read it through? Although they look and sound alike, these two adjectives are …
It’s easy to confuse viruses and bacteria. They are both extremely tiny, for one thing, and, depending on what kind of bug you get, they can make you sick. OK, “extremely tiny” and “make you sick”? We do have technical words for these things. Viruses and bacteria are microscopic, meaning they are too small to see with the unaided eye. And pathogens are “disease-producing agents,” …
by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com Words that are hard to spell, sound alike, aren’t commonly used everyday, and have very technical meanings? They’re confusing! And the trio asymptomatic, asymptotic, and asystematic? Well, they make for a perfect storm of confusion. Let’s break down these words, all the way down to their nuts and bolts. Now, don’t be too daunted by all the …
It’s time to vote on round four of our slang competition at Dictionary.com! There are only a handful of words left on Dictionary.com’s March Madness bracket, but the competition is just heating up. Last week, you voted on our Sweet Sixteen, and you wasted no time knocking out terms like big mood, hold my beer, and sorry not sorry. In a surprising upset, the 16-seed …
Prepare your middle school kids for high school with these vocab activities Do you have a middle-schooler preparing for high school? Challenge them with over 10 vocab activities designed for high school age students. Learning about roots of words Roots can form words in our current language by reconstructing original words from a parent language. Learn more about roots of words by looking for some …
There’s amid. Then there’s amidst. Can they be used in the same way or are there important differences between them? Is one considered more correct? Hey, we get it. The English language is hard! But amid this jumble of words and amidst that mess of meaning, we’re here to help clear things up. What does amid mean? Amid is a preposition, a type of word …
Find Week 1, Week 2, & new Week 3 ELA learning resources for preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, and high school students below. As we all prepare to self-isolate, shelter in place, quarantine, hunker down at home, the time for interacting with our kids is upon us. And the fact that many parents are still working [from home] doesn’t make engaging with our kids …
by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com Most of us have never lived through a pandemic like the coronavirus before, but we have heard or learned about them, from the Spanish flu to, more notoriously, the plague, like the Black Death. And perhaps, as you’ve followed the news or talked to people about COVID-19, you have even heard the coronavirus called a “plague.” No, …
This would be a slideshow of emoji that have good creation/origin stories. Example: hijab emoji, drop of blood emoji, etc. An intro slide and ~10 emoji would be great. Let me know if you have questions.
