Merriam-Webster announced on Thursday that over 5,000 new words and expressions have been incorporated into its “Collegiate” dictionary, the first fresh update to the student- and teacher-focused volume in more than two decades.
The latest edition introduces a range of modern slang and cultural terms, including “beast mode,” “dad bod,” and “rizz.”
Merriam-Webster defines “beast mode” as “an extremely aggressive or energetic style or manner that someone adopts temporarily to overpower an opponent in a fight or competition.” The Associated Press offered an example sentence: “He needed to go beast mode to crush the hot dog eating contest.”
Another widely used phrase now officially recognized is “dad bod,” described as “a physique regarded as typical of an average father, especially one that is slightly overweight and not extremely muscular.”
Meanwhile, “rizz” is identified as a reference to a person’s “appeal or charm.” Merriam-Webster illustrates its use with, “‘You come here often?’ Joe’s rizz was way, WAY off.”
Beyond these, the twelfth edition also includes new additions such as “dumbphone,” “farm-to-table,” “petrichor,” “side eye,” and “hard pass.”
The updated version of the dictionary is scheduled to be released on November 18.
{Matzav.com}
