Merriam‑Webster 12th Edition Adds 5,000+ Words

Merriam‑Webster announced the 12th edition of its Collegiate Dictionary, adding more than 5,000 new words plus roughly 1,000 new phrases and idioms; the hardback is due Nov. 18 with preorders available. The deep‑red, five‑pound volume includes curated word lists, enhanced entries and more than 20,000 new usage examples. Additions reflect recent cultural and technological change, from “petrichor,” “teraflop” and “dumbphone” to pandemic‑era and internet terms such as “ghost kitchen,” “WFH,” “doomscroll,” and pop‑culture entries like “rizz.” Most of the new headwords had previously appeared on Merriam‑Webster.com. To make room for the updates, the publisher removed sparse biographical and geographical sections and pruned obscure antiquated words such as “enwheel.”