Fair warning: The language here could get a little strong for some tastes. Raise your hand if you’ve ever slipped up and said a curse word in front of your boss, your grandma, or anyone else you probably shouldn’t have. We’re right there with you (totally raised our hands). Don’t be too hard on yourself. Swearing has a long history—words tend to stick around when …
by Rory Gory March 31 is Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual occasion dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of transgender people as well as raising awareness of and advocating for the transgender community. Created in 2009 by Rachel Crandall, Executive Director of Transgender Michigan, Transgender Day of Visibility is a time for recognizing transgender people in a positive light, rather than only centering the conversation …
The terms we use to refer to other people—and ourselves—can communicate a lot about identity, and sometimes even a single letter can make a big difference. Perhaps you know the words Latino and Latina. But have you encountered Latinx or Latine? Even if you have, you might still be confused about why they’re used and whether there’s a difference. In this article, we’ll explain the …
Here’s an uncontroversial statement: books have the power to teach us about people, places, cultures, and ideas—especially ones that are different or unfamiliar to us. For young people in particular, a book can be a window to the world beyond their everyday surroundings. But recently, a growing number of political leaders, school officials, and parents in several US states have worked to remove or ban …
Every year on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day and the big blue marble that we all call home. First commemorated in 1970 and now recognized in more than 190 countries, Earth Day is a perfect occasion to think about one of the biggest dangers facing our planet: climate change. As a dictionary, we use this date as an opportunity to document and describe the …
![List of words in outlined font, with central word in bold white font, on lilac background: “Janus word, buzzword, cussword, counterword [in bold], weasel word, nonce word, codeword"](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220428_counterWords_800x800-380x380.png)
We love all kinds of words: big words, small words, words with silent vowels, and even the word moist. With that in mind, we wanted to find words that feature the word word in them. Without getting too wordy, we managed to find words like foreword, afterword, and doubleword that fit our criterion of being a word with the word word in the word. Being …
We love the earth, it’s beautiful, amazing … and it needs our help. The phrase Earth Day originated in 1969. It means “a day’s observance of the need to protect the Earth’s environment, in many countries on April 22.” The first Earth Day was organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin in 1970. He was upset that politics and media were not addressing the concerns of our …
Every once in a while a show comes along and completely transforms bits and pieces of the English language. Parks and Recreation, we’re looking at you. Sure, Friends did it with words and phrases like pivot and how you doing? The Office turned the phrase that’s what she said into one of the longest running jokes in pop culture. But NBC’s Parks And Recreation has …
With all the hullabaloo about the figurative sense of literally, language enthusiasts have given much thought to this often maligned term. We’ve even discussed how the metaphorical extension of literally is nothing new—it’s been around since the 1700s—but now we’d like to explore a few other adverbs and their ironic uses. I believe that recent uses of definitely and totally suggest that the linguistic development …
Read up on the hottest new words added to the Dictionary in our latest summer updates. We’re rounding up some of the newest words we’ve added to the dictionary…and this latest batch is sizzling! Our expert lexicographers continuously research, document, and, ultimately, define the words that are on the tip of every trend and tongue. Their work ensures Dictionary.com is the most comprehensive resource for …
We’ve created these Homework Help articles, organized by category and reviewed by our lexicographers, to help with any and all online schooling. Take a look! Dictionary.com recently launched a new type of content that appears on our definition pages for select terms that students mainly come across during homework assignments. So, fittingly, we’ve called these articles “Homework Help”! Below, we’ve categorized them by subject to …
