Regular readers know I love a good dictionary update.
Dictionary.com isn’t my go-to dictionary, but I do consult it at times. The site updated and added a number of entries a couple of weeks ago.
Dictionary.com said its overhaul was intended to be more people-centric. Senior editor John Kelly said in an NPR interview, “Our revisions are putting people, in all their rich humanity, first, and we’re extremely proud of that.”
Interesting. Isn’t it a given that dictionaries are for people? Do any species beyond humans use a dictionary? Pandas? Minnows? Kudzu?
Earlier this year, the dictionary had already added or expanded entries for many words related to covid-19. Of course, the pandemic is a huge world event, but a word’s path to a dictionary is normally a bit slower.
Merriam-Webster made similar changes. Obviously, the online versions of any publications are a thousand times easier to update. (If I