Perhaps because of interest in the protests in Myanmar, democracy returned to the Top Twenty list this month. Democracy has often been a top-ranked word on the list, and was even our Word of the Year in 2003. Interested readers may be looking for information beyond what is found in the dictionary, and so we are profiling democracy in this month's Beyond the Dictionary.

Rounding out the list of new and returning words are apathetic, caveat, and gorgeous.

For the first time in a very long time, love slipped off the list, although not by much; it is in the number 22 spot. Still, seeing love leave the list is a little disconcerting. As if to compensate, melancholy slipped to 23, hypocrite to 24, and debauchery to 28. Perhaps the beautiful fall weather took at least some people's minds off these dark topics, but it's hard to account for the loss of both love and melancholy, except to note that ambiguous moves up four spots this month.