OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today
Dictionary.com, the leading online and mobile resource for
everything word related, announces the latest additions to its
dictionary. With over 150 new words and definitions added, and over
1,000 revisions, this update continues to show how social media and
digital culture, in particular, affect our communication and
ever-evolving language.
Some of the new words added in the latest update first gained
currency on social media platforms. One example of this is
fleek, which was popularized in mid-2014 by a
six-second video on Vine. The virality of this slang term, often
found in the phrase on fleek, contributed to a massive
increase in interest among Dictionary.com users over the last year.
Dictionary.com lexicographers have access to billions of data
points in search lookups, which they analyze to better understand
interest and demand, accelerating discovery of the English language
as it happens. Users will now be able to look up
fleek, defined as "flawlessly styled, groomed,
etc."
"With over 5.5 billion words looked up annually, we can learn a
lot from our users. They play a vital role in helping us determine
what words to add in each update," said Liz
McMillan, CEO of Dictionary.com.
The impact of social networks on communication IRL
(in real life) can also be seen in the addition of terms such as
yaaas, feels, facepalm,
TBH, and doge, the Internet meme
typified by an image of a Shiba Inu accompanied by very short
phrases that humorously represent the dog's imagined thoughts.
Advances in technology often lead to new words and phrases that
are quickly adopted by consumers. The term Internet of Things
(IoT) gets a definition in this update, and new entries
were also added for Creative Commons, digital
citizen, digital wallet, and fitness
tracker. Following the addition of esports
from the site's previous update in May, new definitions for the
words tabletop, nerf, and
respawn have all been added so gamers and non-gamers
alike can level up their language.
Also on the heels of a number of gender-related terms added in
May, this update includes Mx., a gender-neutral title
of respect that can be prefixed to a person's surname in place of
Ms., Mr., or Mrs.
While some words on the list, including
asterisk and random, may
not seem new, the update includes new definitions for these entries
based on current usage. For instance, it's generally known that the
word asterisk refers to a small, starlike symbol, but
its latest definition offers another use: "any factor or element
that makes an otherwise outstanding achievement somewhat doubtful
or less impressive." Likewise, random was updated to
reflect the slang noun definition commonly used in reference to a
person or thing that is unknown, unidentified or suspiciously out
of place, as in "a few randoms showed up to the party."
Several other words also make their Dictionary.com debut,
including sapiosexual, EGOT, and
KenKen. Also included in this update are the
fashion terms matchy-matchy, which is often used to
describe clothes that go together a little too much, and
shootie, a woman's shoe that reaches, covers, or
extends just above the ankle.
Dictionary.com uses a number of tools to determine which words
are widely used and should be added to the dictionary.
Lexicographers review and discover new words in mainstream media,
academic journals, pop culture sources, and user suggestions, while
vetting new candidates in a corpus of contemporary language use
that contains more than 19 billion words.
A selection of the recently added words with brief definitions
can be found below. Full dictionary entries for the new words can
be found on Dictionary.com.
asterisk: any factor or element that makes an otherwise
outstanding achievement somewhat doubtful or less impressive.
bestie: Informal. a person's best friend.
Creative Commons: a set of various licenses that allow
people to share their copyrighted work to be copied, edited, built
upon, etc., while retaining the copyright to the original work.
digital citizen: a person who develops the skills and
knowledge to effectively use the Internet and other digital
technology, especially in order to participate responsibly in
social and civic activities.
digital wallet: an electronic device, website, software
system, or database that facilitates commercial transactions by
storing a consumer's credit card, shipping address, and other
payment data.
doge: an Internet fad or meme typified by an image of a
dog of the Shiba Inu breed accompanied by very short phrases that
humorously represent the dog's imagined thoughts and use the wrong
modifiers or shortened word forms, as "such dignified" or
"amaze."
drunk text: to send a text message to someone while
intoxicated.
EGOT: the honor of winning at least one Emmy, Grammy,
Oscar, and Tony in competitive rather than honorary categories.
facepalm: the gesture of placing the palm of one's hand
across the face, as to express embarrassment, frustration,
disbelief, etc. (often used as an interjection).
feels: Informal. strong, often positive
feelings.
fitness tracker: a wearable electronic device or a
software application that monitors one's physical fitness and daily
physical activity.
fleek: Slang. flawlessly styled, groomed, etc.
Franken-: Slang. a combining form used before
something that is a hybrid of disparate parts, and meaning "strange
or frightening."
Internet of Things (IoT): a network of everyday devices,
appliances, and other objects equipped with computer chips and
sensors that can collect and transmit data through the
Internet.
IRL: in real life (in contrast with communication and
interaction online or in a fictional situation).
KenKen: Trademark. a brand name for a numerical
logic puzzle printed on a grid subdivided into clusters of squares,
or cages, the object of which is to fill in the squares so that
each column and row do not repeat digits, and all the numbers
within a cage combine together using the specified arithmetic
operation to equal a target number.
kk: Informal. (used in text messages and other
digital communications) okay; OK.
matchy-matchy: Informal. (of an outfit, decor,
etc.) having colors or patterns that match or harmonize too
closely.
Mx.: a title of respect prefixed to a person's surname:
unlike Mr., Mrs., or Ms., it does not indicate gender and may be
used by a person with any or no specific gender identity.
nerf: Slang. (in a video game) to reconfigure (an
existing character or weapon), making it less powerful.
neurodiversity: the variation and differences in
neurological structure and function that exist among human beings,
especially when viewed as being normal and natural rather than
pathological.
random: Slang. a person or thing that is
unknown, unidentified, or suspiciously out of place.
respawn: (of a character or item in a video game) to
reenter an existing game environment at a fixed point after having
been defeated or otherwise removed from play.
sapiosexual: a person who finds intelligence to be a
sexually attractive quality in others.
shootie: Informal. a woman's shoe that reaches,
covers, or extends just above the ankle.
tabletop: noting or relating to a type of game that
requires the physical presence of players and the manipulation of
game pieces, as board games and some card games or role-playing
games but not video games.
TBH: to be honest.
yaaas: Slang. Yes! (used as a strong expression of
excitement, approval, agreement, etc.)
About Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com, an operating
business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI), is the world's leading, definitive
online and mobile resource for everything word related. We provide
tens of millions of global monthly users with reliable access to
millions of definitions, synonyms, audio pronunciations, example
sentences, translations and spelling help through our services at
Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com. Our leading mobile
applications for reference and education have been downloaded more
than 100 million times.
Contact:
Erin Fisher
856.422.0446
erin@dottedlinecomm.com
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SOURCE Dictionary.com