Interest in promiscuous, spurred by Nelly Furtado's chart-topping song "Promiscuous Girl," finally faded, as did at least some of the interest in new words going into this year's printing of the Collegiate Dictionary, such as google and mouse potato. However, google still hangs in at a respectable No. 33, so look-ups of that word clearly persist.

Notable words returning to the list are college-classroom favorites—metaphor, hypothesis, hegemony, and culture. In addition, irony moved up 11 spots; ambiguous five; and paradigm six. Apparently out of favor in this year's syllabus are ubiquitous, empathy, and agnostic, as all three of these moved down in the rankings from their summer spots.

One other word that didn't quite make the list is worthy of note. The word stingray was the 22nd most-looked up word in September, clear evidence, as if more were needed, of the degree of public shock and sadness over the tragic death of Steve Irwin on September 4.