The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary has been completely modernized for today’s librarian, teacher, and student. This new edition provides up-to-date definitions, pronunciations, word origins, usage examples that make understanding easier.
Merriam editors spend hours reading and marking passages from a variety of print and electronic publications to determine whether a word should be included in their dictionary. They carefully monitor words that have become increasingly popular or possess complex, nuanced meanings.
Definitions
Definitions of terms are one of the most sought-after sections of Merriam Webster’s online dictionary. Here you’ll find everything from spelling tips and grammar rules to wordplay and fascinating facts about language usage.
With Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, you can track how a word’s definition evolves over time. This is invaluable for students and researchers.
Merriam-Webster dictionaries have always been created by experienced editors with knowledge of the language. Their team approach ensures that each dictionary maintains a consistent voice and style throughout its lifespan.
The company’s encyclopedias can trace their roots back to Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1806), published in 1806. That was the first dictionary in America to include phonetic symbols for people speaking different dialects or accents.
Merriam Webster online dictionary utilizes these symbols to make it simpler for people to pronounce words correctly. In the past, this required rewriting their dictionaries with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). But with Unicode implementation in 1993, they could instead utilize ASCII characters instead of IPA symbols.
Etymology
The etymology of terms can help you comprehend what words mean in a language and determine if a phrase has been borrowed from another.
Etymology is a branch of historical linguistics that studies the origins and evolution of words. It draws upon comparative semantics, morphology, semiotics and phonetics for its research.
Word history encompasses the origins, development and application of words. As such, it has emerged as a distinct field in its own right.
To comprehend a word’s origins, a linguist must know its earliest form and all related forms (often called its etymon). This can be done by comparing the word to other words and listening for patterns in their sound correspondences.
It is essential to note that etymology requires an expert level of familiarity with other languages and their historical developments. Without this understanding, any attempt at linguistic analysis of a word will be flawed.
Synonyms
Synonyms are words with the same meaning as another, while antonyms are words with the same root but opposite meaning.
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary offers an expansive collection of synonyms to help you find the ideal word for any situation. Search by subject or refine your search using the convenient keyword feature.
Work, labor, travail, toil, drudgery and grind are all terms used to denote activities requiring great and often strenuous effort. They are sometimes interchangeably with occupation which refers to a sustained activity one engages regularly due to training or education.
Employement, occupation, calling, pursuit, metier and business all refer to a sustained activity undertaken for the purpose of earning a living. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably with labor which implies purposeful physical or intellectual work.
In order to be included in a Merriam-Webster dictionary, a word must be referenced numerous times over an extended period of time. These citations give definers an accurate depiction of how well-established, consistent and meaningful the term is.
Usage
Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary provides definitions of words along with pronunciation, usage, grammatical function and an etymology. Additionally, it includes supplemental notes and usage paragraphs that offer guidance and suggestions for words with unclear or disputed usage.
Merriam-Webster boasts an expansive library of 15.7 million citations, which the dictionary editors use to decide whether a word has become widely established in English and deserves inclusion in their dictionary. These examples help determine whether a new term has truly gained currency among speakers of that language.
When a word is newly coined, its editor may need to spend considerable time researching its meaning and deciding how to define it. Some words take months to develop their full significance while others can be added quickly without much debate.
The size and type of dictionary used can influence how many citations are required to include a word. For instance, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, an abridged version with limited space for words, only accepts the most frequently used ones; on the other hand, unabridged dictionaries like Webster’s Third New International Dictionary offer more versatility with space to accommodate more words as well as less commonly used terms.
