{"id":80994,"date":"2026-09-20T19:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T23:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=80994"},"modified":"2026-09-20T19:11:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T23:11:36","slug":"merriam-webster-adds-1400-new-words-to-dictionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/09\/20\/merriam-webster-adds-1400-new-words-to-dictionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Merriam-Webster Adds 1,400 New Words to Dictionary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Merriam-Webster officially updated its dictionary with 1,400 new words, definitions, and updated meanings<\/strong>.<\/sup> The publisher described the expansion as a digital “glow-up”<\/strong> to its lexicon, reflecting how internet culture, artificial intelligence, and evolving social habits continue to reshape the English language.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To earn a spot in the dictionary, editors look for three main criteria: frequent use, widespread use, and meaningful use over time<\/strong>.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights from the 1,400 New Additions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Internet & Social Media Slang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Glow-up:<\/strong> A usually dramatic enhancement, especially to someone’s or something’s physical appearance or circumstances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Looksmaxxing:<\/strong> Taking one or more (sometimes extreme) measures intended to maximize one’s physical attractiveness.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rickroll:<\/strong> To trick someone into opening a link that plays Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Parasocial:<\/strong> Relating to a one-sided emotional connection with someone (often a celebrity, influencer, or fictional character) whom one does not know personally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Crashout:<\/strong> Updated to formally include meanings around a severe mental\/emotional breakdown or outburst.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Trash Panda:<\/strong> Affectionate slang term for a raccoon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Modern Feelings & Relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Sunday Scaries:<\/strong> The feeling of anxiety, dread, or sadness that sets in as the weekend comes to an end and the workweek approaches.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Cuffing Season:<\/strong> The colder months of the year when single people actively seek short-term romantic partnerships.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Copium:<\/strong> A metaphorical substance people allegedly consume to maintain denial or avoid dealing with disappointment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Promposal:<\/strong> An elaborate or extravagantly staged invite asking someone to be a date to a prom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Tech, AI & Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Vibe Coding:<\/strong> The practice of using AI tools to write software code based on natural language prompts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • AGI:<\/strong> Abbreviation for Artificial General Intelligence<\/em>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Compute (as a noun):<\/strong> The processing power and memory resources required for a program or system to function.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Meme Coin:<\/strong> A cryptocurrency created primarily as a meme or joke, usually driven by online hype rather than technical utility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Uncanny Valley:<\/strong> The eerie, uncomfortable feeling experienced when viewing an artificial representation that appears almost\u2014but not quite\u2014human.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Food, Lifestyle & Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Bao & Chili Crisp:<\/strong> Popular culinary additions joining items like cake pop<\/strong> and shishito<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • California Sober:<\/strong> A lifestyle of abstaining from alcohol and hard drugs while still using cannabis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Letterboxing:<\/strong> The technique of formatting video content to fit aspect ratios on different screen sizes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Merriam-Webster officially updated its dictionary with 1,400 new words, definitions, and updated meanings. The publisher described the expansion as a digital “glow-up” to its lexicon, reflecting how internet culture, artificial… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDlcL2ltYWdlcy0xOC53ZWJwP2ZpdD0zNjglMkM1NDMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJNZXJyaWFtLVdlYnN0ZXIgQWRkcyAxLDQwMCBOZXcgV29yZHMgdG8gRGljdGlvbmFyeSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiZG9pcyIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.c53nWG4KdnTOwlmIdP-8Yn_NWnOwuVwkXzY1ozgEDPoMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA5XC9pbWFnZXMtMTgud2VicCIsInR4dCI6Ik1lcnJpYW0tV2Vic3RlciBBZGRzIDEsNDAwIE5ldyBXb3JkcyB0byBEaWN0aW9uYXJ5IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.nZpHCP93GDfpIpfQ5Y7aZl223QZwuVGsKxqh5dQX3iYMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[17339,17342,17343,17345,17344,17338,17340,17341],"class_list":["post-80994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dictionary","tag-internet-culture","tag-language","tag-lexicography","tag-linguistics","tag-merriam-webster","tag-new-words","tag-slang"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80997,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80994\/revisions\/80997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}