Merriam-Webster Trending Election Terms

Just like a picture is worth a thousand words, the words that we choose to use in our vocabulary have meaning and often reflect our world view or the values and mission of an organization.

During the first presidential debate, Merriam-Webster live tweeted trending search topics which included many -isms like racism, fascism and socialism.

As we continue to wait for the results of the election, the dictionary has released the top trending words from election night. Among the words were:

• Incumbent
• Democracy
• Bellwether
• White supremacist
• Empathy
• Electoral college
• Justice
• Pandemic

Some of these words are encouraging. Others can induce fear. No matter the language you use to describe the election, the trending searches seem to have a mix of both hope and fear.

Aside from these terms, the dictionary also tweets out a word of the day to encourage people to learn and expand their vocabulary.

Instead of expanding my vocabulary today, I’ve decided to focus on the word “patience.” What is your word of the day?