"Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate," wrote Merriam-Webster about its word of the year. Joanne K. Watson/handout via Getty Images hide caption
dictionary dictionary
Stories About
dictionary
Scrabble games at a store in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2009. Paul Sakuma/AP hide caption
Florida's Sarasota County School District is not purchasing or accepting donations of new books until at least January as it hires new staff and awaits new guidance to best comply with a statewide education law. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption
Dictionary.com has added over 300 new words and definitions, including "yeet" and "oof," which reflect the changing world. Karen Bleier/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Dictionary.com has updated thousands of entries to reflect the changing use of language in 2020, particularly in subjects like race, gender, health, technology and politics. Daniel Grill/Getty Images/Tetra images RF hide caption
A search for the word they on Merriam-Webster's website turns up definitions for the personal pronoun, which saw a massive spike in lookups this year over last. Several months ago the dictionary added a definition for its 2019 Word of the Year that classified it as a functioning nonbinary pronoun. Jenny Kane/AP hide caption
A sample of the note cards the scholars are using to assemble the comprehensive Latin dictionary. Courtesy of Samuel Beckelhymer. hide caption
Students in Uganda may use Uglish words, but you can be sure they're not learning them at school. Courtesy of Will R. Potter/Said&Seen hide caption