Webster\u27s Fourth: A Review

1909, 1934, 1961 ... from this series, one might predict that the fourth edition of the Merriam-Webster Unabridged will appear in 1990. Alas, this is no Halley\u27s comet. According to the August 1985 issue of Games magazine, The Merriam-Webster editorial director flatly state there are no plans for such a work , and a noted lexicographer and editor doubts that there ever will be: uneconomical...an unabridged simply doesn\u27t sell enough copies . This article and the following one present two wistful (or, perhaps, wishful?) views of this unlikely work

32. Common Spelling Problems

For some writers, their main spelling problem is similar-sounding words, for example, principle and principal or affect and effect. These problems cannot be flagged by software spell-checking functions. Here is a list of these commonly confused homophones (different spelling; same or very similar pronunciation), with examples of their correct use. All definitions in this section are from the Merriam Webster dictionary via the Merriam Webster Dictionary mobile application

Conversion as One of the Main Ways of the Formation of Neologisms in the Sphere of Human Ecology (in English Language)

У статті розглянуто роль конверсії як одного з основних способів утворення неологізмів англійської мови сфери екології людини. Ілюстративний матеріал відібрано зі словників «The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English», «The Merriam-Webster Dictionary» та «The Oxford Dictionary of New Words». The article examines the role of conversion as one of the main ways of the formation of neologisms in English language in the spheres of human ecology. Illustrations are picked out from «The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English», «The Merriam-Webster Dictionary» and «The Oxford Dictionary of New Words»

Word Records From Webster\u27s Third

This article contains a list of words with interesting logological properties from Merriam-Webster\u27s Third New International Dictionary (1961) and 12000 Words: A Supplement to Webster\u27s Third (1986). Only uncapitalized, unpunctuated, bold-face entries or their inflected forms of covered. Borderline cases are bracketed. The word records are drawn from the following three sources

Defining Illness, Impediment, and Inspiration

In 2020, Merriam-Webster declared ‘pandemic’ as their Word of the Year, claiming in a press release that “sometimes a single word defines an era”

Merriam-Webster: Voice of Authority

Since 1909, the three editions of Webster\u27s New International Dictionary (henceforth to be referred to as N11, N12, and N13) have been the most widely accepted references for the coverage of American English. Their reputation is deserved; not only are they through in their coverage of modern words, they are scholarly in their treatment of obsolete terms,important to readers of older literature. (The coverage of obsolete terms in N13 is not as full as in N11 or N12, however.) Their appeal is to both the scholar and the layman. Unlike earlier dictionaries in both England and America, the N1s have done little to actually shape modern American English: lexicographers have grown to understand, however, that no modern dictionary does have a significant effect on the language. This realization has signaled a trend from prescriptive dictionaries (such as early Websterian ones) to descriptive ones (most notably N13). Although the N1s do not significantly affect the language, they provide an excellent mirror by which to examine the changes and progress of American English in the twentieth century

O Lucifer!

Have you ever experienced a desperate need to establish the precise meaning of a reasonably common word? A word ordinary enough to be included in the original, 25,000-entry version of The Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary

Chemical Improvements

I recently purchased a Franklin Crosswords Puzzle Solver (Model CW-40). It is startling to look at this object, the size of a playing card, and watch it carry out tedious searches from an enormous Merriam-Webster vocabulary, with a button-press

The White Paper Bride

The concept was to repurpose, or give a new purpose to (Merriam-Webster, 2015), white paper for a wearable art wedding gown, particularly for use as a store display piece, but with actual wedding events also a possibility