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How many of Merriam-Webster's 1,000 new definitions do you know?
An image of the definition for the word "education."
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Photo by cityyear/Andy Dean via Flickr Creative Commons
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Let's beef up that vocabulary of yours.
More than 1,000 new definitions just made their way into the Merriam-Webster dictionary. To help you digest some of them, KPCC compiled a few here to help you study up. Some are for entirely new words, others are modern additions to existing definitions.
The terms come from all areas of life, including foreign languages, tech, medicine, pop culture and sports. The definitions are a significant addition to the online dictionary, Merriam-Webster said in an online statement. All 1,000 of the additions came into use in the past decade, and none are more than 20 years old.
"All of these words have been observed, collected, and researched, with many examples in context used to write definitions that explain both basic meanings and specific usage," the statement reads.
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Here they are:
Political terms
town hall
1: a public building used for town-government offices and meetings
2: an event at which a public official or political candidate addresses an audience by answering questions posed by individual members
1: one who believes that the truth about an important subject or event is being concealed from the public by a powerful conspiracy
Technology:
NSFW
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1: not safe for work; not suitable for work — used to warn someone that a website, e-mail attachment, etc., is not suitable for viewing at most places of employment
1: to watch many or all episodes of (a TV series) in rapid succession
Sports:
airball
1: to completely miss the basket, rim, and backboard with a shot : to shoot an airball
1: a fake in which a player makes an upward movement to simulate starting to take a shot
Medicine:
supercentenarian
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https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/829103062757289985
Prosopagnosia
1: a form of visual agnosia characterized by an inability to recognize faces
Cooking and food
chef’s knife
1: a knife used for preparing food; especially: a large, general-purpose kitchen knife usually 8 to 10 inches long that has a blade curving upward along its length and ending in a narrow point
1: of, relating to, or characteristic of an artisan
2: produced in limited quantities by an artisan through the use of traditional methods; also: creating a product in limited quantities by traditional methods
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Nouns/slang:
train wreck
1: a violent and destructive crash involving a train
2: an utter disaster or mess : a disastrous calamity or source of trouble
https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/829140619666845696
weak sauce
1: something inferior, ineffective, or unimpressive : something weak
Verbs:
throw shade
https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/829056249467637760
boo-hoo
1: to weep loudly and with sobs
https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/829046670428082177
geek out
1: to behave like a geek; especially : to become excited or enthusiastic about a favored subject or activity
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