The U.S Merriam-Webster dictionary has added 640 new words and new definition to its index, reflecting changing uses of the English Language. This new development occurred this month. Merriam-Webster dictionary is part of the American incorporation that also publishes reference book.
Webster, who had his first dictionary completed during his first year abroad in 1825 in Paris, and at the University of Cambridge, had 70,000 words in the first book. 12,000 out of the 70,000 had never appeared in a dictionary before. This dictionary also introduced American English Spellings e.g ‘Waggon’ for ‘Wagon’, ‘Flavour’ for ‘Flavor’, ‘Savour’ for ‘savor’ etc. American words such as ‘Skunk’ and ‘Squash’ were also included (both words were not in British dictionaries) in the first book by Webster.
The recent words added includes words with additional meanings, compound terms, words from the business world, and also a bunch of new words from science. Few of the recently added words are as follows:
WORDS MEANINGS
- Snowflake Someone who is too sensitive.
- Peak Something at the height of popularity or usage.
- Stan An obsessive fan.
- Garbage time Final part of a sports game in which one side has insurmountable lead.
- Screen time Amount of time one spends starring at a mobile phone.
- Gig economy Temporary work.
- Vulture capitalism Aggressive buying of distressed company.
- Top/Bottom Surgery Terms from gender confirmation operations.
In a statement, Merriam- Webster inc. said ‘’The English Language never sleeps, and neither does the dictionary. Each word follows its own path at its own pace before its use is widespread enough to be included in a dictionary’’. Merriam-Webster dictionary has been updated time to time. The recently updated words can be checked in the dictionary so as to build one’s vocabulary.
