From pop culture to identity and politics, dictionary.com adds over 300 new words

Updated : Mar 08, 2023 23:03
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Editorji News Desk

Website Dictionary.com that provides meanings and definitions of words has updated its list, adding over 300 new words. The online platform has also added new and updated definitions of some existing words. 

There are 313 new words while definitions of 1,140 words have been revised and 130 new definitions have been added.

The website stated that the addition of a word to the dictionary is not an endorsement, but rather a documentation of its use in the real world. 

'Our mission is to be descriptive—we work to describe and document language as it is really used (not just how we or others may want it to be used).'

Some new words include 'nearlywed', 'tifo', 'hellscape'. 

'Nearlywed' which has been modeled on the word 'newlywed', often used in the plural to refer to a recently married couple has been defined by Dictionary.com as a person who lives with 'another in a life partnership, sometimes engaged with no planned wedding date, sometimes with no intention of ever marrying'.

A word which has been dated back to the late 1890s, 'hellscape' was added to the list following a massive increase in recent years. The website said that the word can be used to define a 'a place or time that is hopeless, unbearable, or irredeemable'.

Words added in the lexicon ranged from identity to pop culture, health, gaming as well as sport jargon. 

'The pace with which language adapts to the changes is relentless—with new and newly prominent ways of referring to a wild variety of very specific things,' the website said. 

Similar to the widely known term 'southpaw', the word 'northpaw' was instated to define a sportsperson who competes professionally as a right-hander. 

An Italian term called 'typhus' (fever) also made it to the mix translating figuratively to 'fevered, impassioned support'.

The word was modified to be read as 'tifo' and defined as 'a coordinated display, including large banners, flags, and sometimes signs or cards, executed cooperatively or performed in unison by the most fervent supporters and ultra fans in the stadium.'

'Our lexicographers observe it all, documenting language change wherever it's happening and defining the terms that help us to understand our times. The most recent additions to Dictionary.com come from just about everywhere, spanning the multiverse-like complexity of modern life.' Dictionary.com wrote. 

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