Merriam-Webster’s 2018 Word of the Year Is Exactly What America Wants

Merriam-Webster, the American company based in Springfield, Mass., chooses its "word of the year" a little differently than other dictionaries. While every firm tries to anoint a word that sums up the preoccupations of the past year, Merriam-Webster also requires that, according to its own data, the word be one that people were looking up a lot more than usual.

Merriam-Webster, the American company based in Springfield, Mass., chooses its "word of the year" a little differently than other dictionaries. While every firm tries to anoint a word that sums up the preoccupations of the past year, Merriam-Webster also requires that, according to its own data, the word be one that people were looking up a lot more than usual.