Last night I was totally hangry after Instagramming all day, so I went to a bougie Mexican restaurant and had just ordered a marg and guac with extra avo when some Generation Z rando started talking to me about his latest biohacking project in the fintech industry; the TL;DR, it was a total time suck and I wanted to force quit.
If that sentence seems out of place to you, full of slang that’s better suited for a tweet or a text message, not a professional news article, then chillax, bro. Look up the words and you’ll find them in another respectable place: the dictionary.
In 2018, the Merriam-Webster added 840 new words, cementing into the English language terminology forged in our era of technology, food trends, and social movements, led by a bunch of millennials like me.
For National Dictionary Day, we selected 32 words from the new collection and laid them out for you to scroll through: blended words, abbreviations, food, technology, and social media phrases. Binge away—we promise it’s not a total time suck.
Select a word to see its definition
Data visualization by Lia Petronio