Merriam-Webster’s Defines an Open Dictionary

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In its Open Dictionary, Merriam-Webster allows you to submit words that are not already in its online dictionary.

Use the submit form to create an entry for a new word or sense. Your word—complete with definition, example sentence, and your name if you choose!—will be instantly added to Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary and displayed in the Most Recent Entries listing. Source: Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary

We Say: I took a look at some of the most recently submitted definitions and the quality really varies. One thing that’s fairly consistent is the submitted example sentences are too simplistic. And some of the definitions, while accurate, were too specific. For example, someone might define verb X to mean something associated with noun Y, but the definition could (and should) actually be generalized to be more useful. Anyway, at this point, looking at the recently added definitions, I’m not sure how useful this is really going to be.