“We continuously encounter new ways of describing the world around us, and the dictionary is a record of those changes,” says Gregory Barlow, the president of Merriam-Webster, upon the announcement of 200 new words and terms to its dictionary.
Included in the new class are terms like “nepo baby” — a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections — and “jam band,” a group “whose performances are distinguished by frequent and often lengthy jazz like improvisation.”
There’s also “beach read,” as in “a usually light work of escapist fiction (such as a thriller or romance),” as well as other random additions, like the text shorthand “IDGAF”; “MAGA”; “far left”; “far right”; and “touch grass.”
The latter, as in “Go touch grass,” is described as “to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions.”