The dictionary, by theme
Word lists
Each list gathers entries from the dictionary around one theme, with a one-line meaning for every word and a link to its full entry. There are 25 lists covering 405 words. Save a whole list to My words to study it with the daily recall: it stays on this device, with no account.
Hand-picked lists
Chosen by our editors from entries across the dictionary, each with its own introduction.
- 17 wordsAncient words for living wellGreek and Latin words for a good life, from Stoic apatheia and memento mori to eudaimonia and the golden mean, each with what the ancient writers meant.Eudaimonia · Arete · Phronesis · The Golden Mean …
- 23 wordsBeautiful wordsBeautiful English words with rare, exact meanings, from petrichor to susurrus, each with what it means and where it comes from.Petrichor · Susurrus · Apricity · Mellifluous …
- 15 wordsFigures of speechFigures of speech from anaphora to zeugma, each with a plain meaning and a short example, including pairs people confuse such as metonymy and synecdoche.Anaphora · Apophasis · Aposiopesis · Asyndeton …
- 16 wordsWords about wordsWords for the things language does, from eggcorns and mondegreens to the word you can't remember and the word that appears only once.Eggcorn · Mondegreen · Malapropism · Spoonerism …
- 22 wordsWords for feelings you can't nameExact words for feelings most people have but can't name: the comeback that comes too late, nostalgia for an era you never knew, a word losing its meaning.L'esprit de l'escalier · Semantic Satiation · Anemoia · Sonder …
- 16 wordsWords for love and longingWords for being in love, wanting someone you can't have and missing people and places, from limerence and kilig to saudade and hiraeth.Love · Limerence · Kilig · La Douleur Exquise …
- 16 wordsWords for slowing downWords from several languages for rest, calm and taking your time, from hygge and fika to niksen and sobremesa, with what each one really involves.Sobremesa · Fika · Hygge · Gezellig …
- 18 wordsWords for spotting manipulation onlineThe words for how opinion is faked, bent and farmed online, from astroturfing and sockpuppets to rage-bait and sealioning, and how each tactic works.Astroturfing · Sockpuppet · Rage Bait · Engagement Farming …
- 18 wordsWords for the skyWords for what happens in the sky, from alpenglow and sun dogs to virga and the green flash, each with the plain meaning and the science behind it.Alpenglow · Crepuscular Rays · Sun Dog · Green Flash …
- 15 wordsWords for when you're overthinkingWords for the loops a busy mind gets into, from rumination and analysis paralysis to the spotlight effect, explained as patterns, not diagnoses.Rumination · Analysis Paralysis · Decision Fatigue · Spotlight Effect …
- 14 wordsWords for writers: storytelling termsThe working vocabulary of fiction: Chekhov's gun, the MacGuffin, in medias res, the unreliable narrator and more, with where each term comes from.In Medias Res · Chekhov's Gun · MacGuffin · Red Herring …
- 16 wordsWords that explain argumentsNames for what goes wrong in arguments, from the straw man and the sunk cost fallacy to Godwin's law, plus Aristotle's three means of persuasion.Straw Man · Red Herring · Godwin's Law · Poe's Law …
- 19 wordsWords to sound smarter at workNamed laws, effects and ideas that explain what happens in meetings and projects, from Parkinson's law to bikeshedding, and what each one exactly means.Parkinson's Law · Bikeshedding · Goodhart's Law · Peter Principle …
Collections
Every entry of one kind, gathered automatically as the dictionary grows.
- 8 wordsAngel numbersWhat people mean by angel numbers such as 111, 222 and 444, reported as a modern belief, with where the idea comes from and how readings differ.Angel number 111 · Angel number 1111 · Angel number 222 · Angel number 333 …
- 15 wordsCommonly confused wordsPairs of English words people mix up, like affect and effect or fewer and less, with a quick rule for each and an example that shows the difference.Affect · Complement · Discreet · Disinterested …
- 16 wordsDead internet slangInternet slang that has faded or died: what each word meant at its peak, when it was everywhere and what people say instead now.Bae · Cray · Epic Fail · Fetch (Mean Girls) …
- 8 wordsDream meaningsCommon dreams, such as teeth falling out or being chased, and the meanings people give them, kept apart from what dream research does and does not show.Being chased dream · Being late dream · Dead loved one dream · Exam dream …
- 20 wordsEmoji meaningsWhat emoji mean in real messages, which is often not what their official name says. Each entry gives the literal meaning, the slang one and when to avoid it.100 Emoji (Hundred Points) · Cap Emoji · Clown Emoji · Eyes Emoji …
- 12 wordsFalse etymologiesPopular stories about where words came from that the evidence does not support, with what the record actually shows for each word.Golf · Hooker · News · OK …
- 7 wordsMeaning not foundWords and phrases people search for that have no settled meaning in dictionaries or usage records, and what we could find out about each one.67 · Covfefe · Dord · Esquivalience …
- 12 wordsReal word or 404?Words people suspect are made up, checked against dictionaries and usage records, with a verdict for each: real, nonstandard but real, or not in dictionaries.Ain't · Alot · Anyways · Conversate …
- 54 wordsText slang and abbreviationsThe abbreviations and slang people use in texts, DMs and group chats, each with a plain meaning, an example and how current it still is.67 · Ate · Aura · Bet …
- 12 wordsThe language of flowersWhat flowers mean in the language of flowers, from red roses to forget-me-nots, with the history of the meanings and where the old lists disagree.Carnation · Chrysanthemum · Daisy · Forget-me-not …
- 26 wordsVictorian slangSlang from Victorian Britain, with what each word meant, where it was recorded and how it was used. Most entries trace to J. Redding Ware's 1909 dictionary.Afternoonified · Bags o' Mystery · Bang Up to the Elephant · Batty-fang …
- 27 wordsWords of the YearEvery major dictionary's Word of the Year in one table, by year: Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Collins, Cambridge and Dictionary.com, with links to the meanings.67 · AI Slop · Allyship · Artificial Intelligence …
The drawn maps
Some sets of words are drawn as maps rather than listed. Each map is a page of its own.
- Map · 51 wordsUntranslatable words51 feelings English has no word for.
- Map · 20 wordsOld-fashioned insults20 old insults, and which of them are real.
- Map · 38 wordsCognitive biases38 ways a mind gets it wrong.
- Map · 38 wordsDating terms38 words for what dating does now.
- Map · 34 wordsInternet terms34 words the internet needed.
- Map · 36 wordsWorkplace terms36 words for what work does to people.