‘Throw Shade,’ ‘Binge-Watch’ Among Merriam-Webster’s 1,000 New Words

The events of the last 12 months have left many of us without words. Thankfully, Merriam-Webster is here to help.

The esteemed dictionary has added over 1,000 new words, with many of them ones that have grown in the lexicon over the last few years.

Among the new words and phrases that made it:

throw shade

binge-watch

ghost

airball

humblebrag

truther

microaggression

face-palm

safe space

Seussian

first world problem

So, why did these words make the cut? According to editor Peter Sokolowski, "These are words that have demonstrated frequent and increasing use in a variety of sources and are therefore likely to be encountered by a reader."