Don’t despair that your teenage son’s vocabulary seems limited to Uh huh, Sweet! and ‘sup (for “What’s up?”). And don’t fret that smiley faces have replaced perfectly fine words in email. The English language is still breathing and evolving.
Consider these new words and expressions, made legitimate by their inclusion in the latest Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, hot off the press and available online:
- cybrarian
- hospitalist
- amuse-bouche
- otology
- retronym
- zaibatsu
- steganography
- SARS
- chick flick
- hazmat
Can you define them? Ready for a vocabulary test? Try to match these brief definitions with the words above.
A. a small complimentary appetizer offered at restaurants.
B. a material that would be a danger to life or to the environment if released without precautions.
C. a term consisting of a noun and a modifier which specifies the original meaning of the noun (example: film camera).
D. a powerful financial and industrial conglomerate of Japan.
E. a severe respiratory illness.
F. a motion picture intended to appeal especially to women.
G. a person whose job is to find, collect, and manage information that is available on the Web.
H. a science that deals with the ear and its diseases.
I. the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file.
J. a physician who specializes in treating hospitalized patients of other physicians.
For the answers, visit Merriam-Webster. You’ll find the matched definitions, along with other linguistic gems such as bikini wax, Wi-Fi, brain freeze, and metadata. Enjoy!