Dictionary.com Adds Nearly 5,900 New Entries — From 'Goated' to 'Context Window'

On Sept. 12, Dictionary.com announced a major update to its online dictionary, adding roughly 5,900 new entries and revising more than 1,200 existing definitions. The additions reflect current conversation across internet culture, artificial intelligence, sustainability, global cuisine and many scientific fields.

What Changed

Most new entries fall in scientific and technical areas — biology, physics, medicine, earth science, chemistry, computing, mathematics and psychology — but the update also captures emerging slang, cultural terms and global food names that have become widely used.

Selected Entries: Online Culture & Social Media

• Engagement bait (noun): Content posted to provoke comments, likes or other audience interaction.
• Face reveal (noun): Posting a photo of one’s face online for the first time, often by creators who previously remained anonymous.
• Reply guy (noun): A man who replies excessively or inappropriately to women’s social media posts.
• Lost in the sauce (idiom): Confused, preoccupied, disoriented or sometimes inebriated.
• Goated (adjective): Considered the GOAT — the greatest of all time.
• Glow-up (noun): A positive transformation in appearance, confidence or social standing.
• Kiki (noun): A gathering of close friends, especially to chat or gossip; a term with roots in Black and Latin queer house and ballroom culture.

Technology & AI

• Context window (noun): The amount of text (measured in tokens) that a large language model can process or reference at one time.
• Model collapse (noun): A decline in generative-AI quality when models are trained on AI-generated data.
• Overprompt (verb): To provide an AI system with excessive instruction or constraints that can harm output quality.
• Bioprinter (noun): A 3D printer designed to produce materials made of living cells.
• Longevity escape velocity (noun): A hypothetical pace of medical progress that extends expected remaining life faster than time passes.

Psychology, Behavior & Health

• Love bomb (noun): An intense, often manipulative display of affection used to influence or control someone.
• Trauma bond (noun): An emotional attachment a victim forms toward an abuser, especially when abuse alternates with kindness.

Environment & Sustainability

• Agrivoltaics (noun): Using the same land for agriculture and solar power generation.
• Blue carbon (noun): Carbon captured and stored by coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes.
• Greenhushing (noun): When companies downplay or withhold information about their sustainability efforts to avoid scrutiny.
• Sponge city (noun): Urban design strategies that use green infrastructure to absorb stormwater and reduce flooding.

Global Cuisine & Ingredients

• Nasi lemak (noun): A Malay dish of rice cooked in coconut milk with pandan leaves, commonly served with sambal, egg, peanuts and anchovies.
• Pandan (noun): The fragrant screw-pine plant whose leaves flavor many Southeast Asian dishes.
• Pandesal (noun): A soft, slightly sweet Filipino bread roll often eaten with spreads or dipped in coffee.
• Quesabirria (noun): A quesadilla filled with birria-style beef and melted cheese, typically served with a spicy, broth-like dipping sauce.

New Acronyms

• IYKYK: "If you know, you know."
• ELI5: "Explain like I'm five."
• PFP: Profile picture.
• STBX: Soon-to-be ex (partner).

Why Entries Are Added

Dictionary.com adds entries when words show consistent, widespread use and evidence they are likely to persist. A new entry does not necessarily mean the word was recently invented — many entries have deeper cultural or historical roots. For example, "kiki" traces back to Black and Latin queer house and ballroom communities of the 1980s and later reached wider audiences through media such as the 2016 documentary Kiki and the show RuPaul's Drag Race.

Source: USA TODAY. Reporter: Greta Cross ([email protected]).