March's TOP TWENTY

March's list looks much like February's but with a few subtle changes. Filibuster continued to move down the list, and fungible slipped off entirely. Meanwhile, agnostic and paradigm moved up to Nos. 13 and 16, respectively, and inept continued its climb from No. 16 in January to No. 8 this month.

See March's full list -- and take a look back at last March's list.

Word Profile: kerfuffle

Although kerfuffle didn't make it to the Top 20, it earned a place of honor as one of the Top 100 most-looked-up words last month. Why? Click here and find out.

Looking Back: 1986

April 1986 was a deadly month. A bomb exploded on a TWA flight from Rome to Athens, killing four people. U.S. planes bombed Libya. And the worst nuclear accident ever occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Our look back at that frightening time includes 62 terms that made their first print appearance that year.

Beyond the Dictionary: poetry

April is National Poetry Month. William Wordsworth's famous definition of poetry still seems to get it best: "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recalled in tranquility." However, if that isn't enough, try out a more in-depth investigation of poetry in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia.

New Word Watch

Merriam-Webster editors are giving the following words serious consideration for entry in a Merriam-Webster dictionary:

*  google transitive verb, often capitalized [Google, trademark for a search engine] : to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web

*  monkey pox noun : a rare virus disease especially of central and western Africa that is caused by a poxvirus, occurs chiefly in wild rodents and primates, and when transmitted to humans resembles smallpox but is milder

*  ponzu noun [Japanese ponsu, ponzu juice squeezed from sour oranges, from Dutch pons, literally punch, from English punch] : tangy sauce made from citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood

Do you have a suggestion for a word we should be watching for? E-mail us at comments@word.com, and we'll tell you what we have on that word so far.

Word History of the Month: vendetta

Last month's theatrical release of V for Vendetta sent folks to the dictionary and pushed the word vendetta into the list of top 100 looked-up words. What's the history of vendetta? Click here to find out.

Notable and Quotable: William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was both born and died in the month of April (April 7, 1770 - April 23, 1850). Quotations from the Romantic poet are used to illustrate word senses for 134 entries in the Unabridged Dictionary. We've collected a few dozen of the more poetic examples.

Remember, finding quotations from a poet or author is easy. Just choose your reference—the Unabridged or the Collegiate—and click on Advanced Search. Type the last name of the author in the Author Quoted box and click on Search.

Just Foolin' Around

Now that we're more than halfway through National Poetry Month, you may be ready to move beyond "April showers bring May flowers." If so, why not play around online? Click here for some tips.

From the Mail Server

In honor of spring cleaning, here are some queries from recent months that were left over but are too good to waste. Editors answered questions about whether something can be funner, about when cancelled should be spelled with one "l", and about whether a flock of crows is really called a murder.

If you have a question for the editors, do what other word lovers do: send it to comments@word.com.

Language Links

Looking for some help with writing? The Web can help. Try these links.

Puzzle Corner

According to tradition, William Shakespeare's birthday is celebrated April 23. Test your knowledge of the Bard with these six questions on language taken from the plays of the Bard.