Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

  • Advertisements

Merriam-Webster adds 'e-reader,' 'gastropub' and more

Many of the 2012 inclusions in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary are words that 'provide colorful images,' according to editor at large Peter Sokolowski.

By Staff Writer / August 20, 2012

One of the terms added to the dictionary this year is 'bucket list.'

Richard Drew/AP

Enlarge

Congratulations to “earworm,” “e-reader” and “game changer” – they and a host of other terms made the cut this year for the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

Skip to next paragraph

Recent posts

Merriam-Webster usually adds around a hundred words to the dictionary each year, and 2012’s inclusions ranged from slang to terms created by food aficionados.

“Some of the new words this year provide colorful images," Merriam-Webster Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski said in a statement. “Terms like 'man cave,' 'underwater' (when used to describe mortgages), 'earworm,' and 'bucket list' paint vivid pictures in your mind. They show that English-speakers can be very creative as they describe the world around them.”

Other notable newbies included “gastropub,” “f-bomb, “ “sexting” and “cloud computing.”

Permissions

Read Comments

View reader comments | Comment on this story

  • Weekly review of global news and ideas
  • Balanced, insightful and trustworthy
  • Subscribe in print or digital

Special Offer

 

What are you reading?

Let me know about a good book you've read recently, or about the book that's currently on your bedside table. Why did you pick it up? Are you enjoying it?

 

Doing Good

 

What happens when ordinary people decide to pay it forward? Extraordinary change...

David Eads sits among old computer parts waiting to be recycled or refurbished by FreeGeek Chicago volunteers.

David Eads runs FreeGeek Chicago, 'an Apple Store for the rest of us'

FreeGeek Chicago gives volunteers hands-on training in restoring old computers to sell or recycle – while they earn credits toward taking home their own desktop or laptop free of charge.

 
 
Become a fan! Follow us! Google+ YouTube See our feeds!