How Many of These New Words in the Dictionary Do You Know?
Your vocabulary is about to get bigger.
Dictionary.com has added more than 1,000 new words in its latest update to its growing tomb.
In the wake of Bruce Jenner's revelation that he will become a woman, agender ("relating to a person who does not have a specific gender identity or recognizable gender expression") made the cut, as did bigender ("relating to a person who has two gender identities or some combination of both") and gender-fluid ("relating to a person whose gender identity or gender expression is not fixed and shifts over time or depending on the situation").
With a presidential election on the horizon, you may hear the word slacktivism more. It's defined as "actions taken to bring about political or social change but requiring only minimal commitment, effort, or risk: students engaging in slacktivism by signing an online petition."
Several words have a tech component to them. In the realm of hacking, dox ("to publish the private personal information of (another person) without the consent of that individual") joined the dictionary, along with blackhat ("a hacker who violates the security of a system for personal profit or for the gratification of causing damage"), cybercrime ("criminal activity or a crime that involves the Internet, a computer system, or computer technology") and revenge porn ("sexually suggestive images of someone, typically a former romantic partner, that are posted online without the person's consent").
And, of course, there's smartwatch ("a computing device that resembles a wristwatch and is attached to a band worn around the wrist").
What do you think? Are these words wise choices? And are there any words so out of date they should be removed from the dictionary?