A dictionary is one of the most or the only important thing in life. Came across a fancy word or confused if the meaning you think is correct—just peek inside! The addition of new words to a dictionary is a continuous process, after all, the glossary of life cannot be an old school. To adapt the ever-evolving English vocabulary, the Merriam-Webster has recently added 840 new words and definitions. Interestingly, it gave much importance to the technology advancements, and your never-ending social media feeds. Yes, and that is why there is an increasing chance of you being quite familiar with them. “Rando”, “adorbs”, “fav” and "Instagramming" are now certified words! India's First Sign Language Dictionary Launched for Hearing and Speech Impaired People. 

A bulk of the new words are already widely used. Entries such as “hangry” and “fintech” have been added, whereas “flight” just got another definition to describe the small tastings of beer or wine offered in many bars. The new words are only added to the dictionary when they have already been used by many people. So, naturally, “airplane mode”, “Instagramming” has to be featured in it with the accurate meanings. “Every word moves at its own pace; there is no average speed for a word’s acceptance into the language, the culture, and the dictionary. The dictionary’s job is to report that usage as it enters the general vocabulary,” reads the official release by Merriam-Webster.

Another exciting theme to this addition is food. According to the Merriam-Webster, words about food and eating continues to be the largest source of foreign borrowings into the English language. Hence, the dictionary has added many food-related terms such as the sunset meal breaking the daily fast during Ramadan, “iftar” or a popular type of Korean chilli paste “gochujang” or “mise en place”, the French term used in restaurants for the positioning of ingredients in the kitchen before cooking. TL;DR, the recent 840 additions are the G.O.A.T. The abbreviations by the way too made the new list!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 19, 2018 12:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).