"Authentic" was one of this year's most looked-up words, according to the lexical leader. That speaks volumes about our quest for truth in an age of algorithms and online artifice.

But there’s no denying that, as the popular, prevailing meanings of words change, they often drift farther and farther away from the “correct” meaning. 2 / 14. LightField Studios/Shutterstock.

Three generations of Canadians were proud of the word “Dominion.” In 1926 Prime Minister King accepted it in the Imperial Conference’s definition of Canada’s nationhood.* Of late there ...

In my book, The Geometry of Meaning, I have put forward the thesis that children do not learn words in isolation, but they sort them into meaning domains.Examples of such domains are animals ...

The Scripps National Spelling Bee introduces the U.S. to a host of weird and wonderful words. Here are some of our favorites to slip into your next conversation.