No "Snowflakes" Here: Merriam-Webster Updates With New Words

We're about to hit peak word nerdery here at WBUR. This next segment is very on-brand for public radio. But we're not ashamed to call ourselves Merriam-Webster dictionary stans.

"Peak," "on-brand" and "stan" are just a few of the 640 entries that Merriam-Webster is adding to the dictionary Tuesday. The Springfield-based arbiter of language has combed newspapers, academic journals, books, even TV and movie scripts for top new usages.

This year's additions convey dictionary status to some terms for the very first time. Other, familiar words are getting new definitions to reflect the ways we use them today.

Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large of Merriam-Webster Dictionary. He tweets @petersokolowski.