September 2008

Report from the Open Dictionary

Our editors aren't the only ones on the lookout for new words; our readers add words to Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary every day. When you notice a new word — on the radio, in a book or magazine, or online — and find that it's not found in any dictionary, it's probably a good candidate. Here's a handful of our favorite recent submissions.

biophony (noun) : the cumulative non-human sound produced by living organisms in a given biome
<The biophony of every location in nature is unique.>

body man (noun) : a personal assistant to a prominent public figure
<He also admitted that he didn't know exactly what was in those blue boxes with ribbons that his body man, Reggie Love, was toting for world leaders. —Maureen Dowd, NYTimes, 7/30/08>

crunchy (adjective) : close and dissonant harmony in vocal or instrumental music
<Altos, when you get to the B natural against the soprano C, keep it aggressive — it's an intentionally crunchy moment.>

greenwash (verb) : to promote a product or service as being environmentally friendly without any basis in fact
<Realtors sometimes greenwash by promoting a house with new windows as green, regardless of its actual energy use.>

minisode (noun) : a short special episode of a television series
<Last time they did this, between seasons 2 and 3, we got one fifteen minute minisode and it was hilarious.>

Phelpsian (adjective) : [Michael Phelps, U.S. swimmer] enormously difficult and impressive
<Aaron Peirsol described the brilliant and breathtaking Olympic achievements of Michael Phelps as Phelpsian.>

popunder (noun) : a popup ad that comes up behind the other open windows
<An annoying popunder came up when I went to that website.>

prepone (verb) : to move to an earlier time
<We preponed the trip to California by 3 days because we found cheaper tickets.>

staycation (noun) : a vacation taken within a short distance of your home
<I will save money and learn more about what my community has to offer by taking a staycation this summer instead of going out of town.>

webify (verb) : to convert information or data for viewing on a Web page via a browser
<We need to webify this document to display on our site.>

Some new words catch on, some don't. It usually takes a few years for a word to enter the language and be used by many people in many different places. The Open Dictionary is the place to record new or specialized words or old words with new meanings. We welcome your contributions — simply click here to add a word or to see what's new in the world of words.


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