The list of new words added to the New Oxford American Dictionary is probably a mile long. The editors at the Oxford University Press blog included a sampling of the additions here.
You probably already know what BFF and bromance mean. Here are a few of my faves from the OUP blog's list that are a bit more unusual:
- carbon credit n. a permit that allows a country or organization to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions and that can be traded if the full allowance is not used.
- cloud computing n. the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.
- eggcorn n. a word or phrase that results from a mishearing or misinterpretation of another, an element of the original being substituted for one that sounds very similar or identical (e.g., tow the line instead of toe the line). – ORIGIN early 21st cent.: with reference to a misinterpretation of acorn.
- homeshoring n. the practice of transferring employment that was previously carried out in a company’s office or factory to employees’ homes. – ORIGIN early 21st cent.: on the pattern of offshoring.
- parkour (also parcour) n. the activity or sport of running through an area, typically in an urban environment, using acrobatic techniques to negotiate obstacles. – ORIGIN early 21st cent.: French, alteration of parcours ‘route, course.’
- paywall n. (on a website) an arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to the site.
- tag cloud n. a visual depiction of the word content of a website, or of user-generated tags attached to online content, typically using color and font size to represent the prominence or frequency of the words or tags depicted.
- tramp stamp n. informal a tattoo on a woman’s lower back.
- truthiness n. informal the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true. – ORIGIN early 19th cent. (in the sense ‘truthfulness’): coined in the modern sense by US humorist Stephen Colbert (1964–).
- zombie bank n. informal a financial institution that is insolvent but that continues to operate through government support.
A couple of new phrases
be all that informal be very attractive or good: he thinks he’s all that—yeah, God’s gift.
my bad informal used to acknowledge responsibility for a mistake: Sorry about the confusion. It’s my bad.
like herding cats informal used to refer to a difficult or impossible task, typically an attempt to organize a group of people: controlling the members of this expedition is like herding cats.
cop to accept or admit to: there are a lot of people who don’t cop to their past.
what’s not to like? informal used as a rhetorical expression of approval or satisfaction: cleaner air, cooler temperatures, and mountain views—what’s not to like?
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