Merriam-Webster Announces Top Ten Favorite Words

Merriam-Webster Online users vote "defenestration" as #1 favorite

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., May 10, 2004 — Are we so discombobulated by the plethora of daily kerfuffles that we're ready to defenestrate the whole mess? Judging from the responses to a recent "What's Your Favorite Word?" survey conducted on Merriam-Webster Online, folks are throwing their troubles out the window right and left—or at least enjoying throwing around the word that means exactly that.

Heading the list of Merriam-Webster's Top Ten Favorite Words is defenestration, a noun derived from the Latin word fenestra (window), and defined by Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary as: "a throwing of a person or thing out of a window." From the thousands of anonymous entries submitted by the site's visitors throughout the month of April, defenestration received the most votes by a wide margin, distinguishing itself—among other popular words the likes of discombobulate, plethora, and kerfuffle,—as the clear Favorite of all Favorites.

"Projects like this remind us once again of the deep level of interest that people attach to the words in their language," said Merriam-Webster President and Publisher John M. Morse. "Using language can be a little like serving up a meal, with words as the ingredients. I think people were sharing with us their favorite ingredients—the ingredients that add spice and flavor and a personal touch to their everyday use of language."

Morse added, "The words that people offered were really striking. The common denominator running through many of them was a kind of texture—an unusual story behind the word, or an interesting sequence of sounds. In fact, many of these words were little poems in themselves. People are clearly drawn to words that have this kind of richness and texture, and fortunately our language is well stocked with them."

Traffic to Merriam-Webster Online now exceeds 100 million individual page views per month. On average, the company responds to approximately ten lookup requests in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary or Thesaurus per second. During peak hours, this may increase to more than 100 requests per second.

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Merriam-Webster Inc. acquired the rights to revise and publish Noah Webster's dictionaries in 1843. Since then, Merriam-Webster has maintained an ongoing commitment to innovation, scholarship, and love of language. Today, the company continues as the leader in both print and electronic language reference publishing with reference products, learning tools, and word games.