Ginormous News From Merriam-Webster

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- When Merriam-Webster OnLine asked its thousands of visitors "What's Your Favorite Word (That's Not in the Dictionary?)" two years ago, the response was "ginormous" -- the word proved to be the online community's favorite "dictionary reject" by a wide margin. "If enough people continue to support ginormous," the site's editors suggested, "paving the way for wide-spread use of the word and subsequent publication over a period of time, one of these days it might just drop its 'not in the dictionary' status."

Now ginormous, ("extremely large, humongous"), along with about 100 additional first-time entries, has found its way into the 2007 copyright version of America's best-selling dictionary, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. The print version of this reference staple won't be available in stores until later this fall -- but a sneak peek at this year's crop of new words and senses has just been posted on the company's award-winning Web site, Merriam-Webster OnLine ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/ ).

"People make up words in a number of ways," said John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster Inc. "Perhaps the most popular method is to blend two already-existing words to form a new one-like combining 'gigantic' and 'enormous' to make 'ginormous.' We'd been monitoring the written evidence of the word for some time, and the result of the 2005 survey was further proof that ginormous was becoming a serious candidate for entry in the dictionary."

The fields of technology and medicine regularly provide opportunities for new entries, and this year DVR ("digital video recorder") and nocebo ("a harmless substance that when taken by a patient is associated with harmful effects due to negative expectations or the psychological condition of the patient") are among those to make the cut.

Also new to the 2007 copyright of the Collegiate Dictionary are perfect storm ("a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors"), and crunk ("a style of Southern rap music featuring repetitive chants and rapid dance rhythms"). "Speaking of blend words," said Morse, "a second sense for crunk-'crazy and drunk'-shows up frequently in submissions to our Open Dictionary-a feature on our Web site that invites people to submit new words at their leisure."

For a sample blend of the latest Collegiate Dictionary entries-and their definitions-please visit Merriam-Webster OnLine ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/ ). For additional information on how words are selected for a Merriam-Webster dictionary, or to arrange an interview on this topic with John M. Morse, please contact Arthur J. Bicknell, Senior Publicist, at the address below.

Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster Inc. acquired the rights to revise and publish Noah Webster's dictionaries in 1843. Since then, Merriam-Webster has maintained an ongoing commitment to innovation, scholarship, and love of language. Today, the company continues as the leader in both print and electronic language reference publishing with reference products, learning tools, and word games. For more information about the company, and about Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, visit Merriam-Webster OnLine at http://www.merriam-webster.com/ .

  Arthur Bicknell, Senior Publicist
  Merriam-Webster Inc.
  Phone: (413) 734-3134 ext. 119
  E-mail: abicknell@Merriam-Webster.com