Webster: 'Pragmatic' Top Word Of 2011
December 15, 2011 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Dec. 15 (UPI) — Massachusetts-based dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced “pragmatic” was its most-searched word online for 2011.
The publisher said “pragmatic,” defined as “practical as opposed to idealistic,” topped the 2011 list, followed by “ambivalence,” which is defined as “simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings toward an object, person, or action” and as “continual fluctuation between one thing and its opposite.”
The list also included “insidious,” defined as “awaiting a chance to entrap;” “didactic,” meaning “designed or intended to teach;” and “austerity,” defined as “extreme or enforced economy.”
“Diversity,” “capitalism,” “socialism” and “vitriol” also appeared in the top 10, which finished with “apres moi le deluge,” a quote attributed to French king Louis XV meaning “after me, the flood.”
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