Staying Fit
As our culture evolves, so does our language. In response, dictionaries regularly add new words and expressions — including the 38 mentioned below. Each was added within the last year to either the Oxford English Dictionary (OED); Dictionary.com (D), which uses the Random House Unabridged Dictionary as a source; or Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (MW). Some of the words and phrases can be found in multiple dictionaries.
Many additions make perfect sense — the OED added the meteorology term “derecho” (“A line of violent and sustained windstorms formed in association with a rapidly moving band of thunderstorms…”), for example.
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Others are strange but interesting, such as Dictionary.com’s inclusion of “shower orange,” which (who knew?) is “an orange that is peeled and eaten under a steamy shower, the purported benefit being that the steam enhances the orange’s citrusy fragrance and creates a soothing experience for the person who is showering.” Other notable additions to English-language dictionaries:
adultification, n.: “the action or practice of treating children or young people like adults in ways that are considered harmful or abusive” (OED)
binned, adj., colloquial: “put or thrown into a dustbin or wastepaper basket. Now often figurative (of a person or thing): rejected, discarded, or abandoned” (OED)
Blursday, n., informal: “a day not easily distinguished from other days, or the phenomenon of days running together” (D)
Chumocracy, n.: “a culture characterized or dominated by influential networks of close friends” (OED)
chatbot, n.: “a computer program designed to respond with conversational or informational replies to verbal or written messages from users” (D)
cheffy, adj.: “characteristic of or befitting a professional chef (as in showiness, complexity, or exoticness)” (MW)
climate refugee, n.: “a person who has had to flee their home due to the negative effects of climate change” (D)
coffee nap, n.: “a short nap, usually 15-30 minutes, taken immediately after drinking a cup of coffee, the claimed benefit being that the energizing effect of caffeine may be bolstered by a sleeping body’s drop in adenosine levels” (D)