I never thought I'd see the day where "stan," a word frequently used on social media to describe overzealous fans, would end up with its own dictionary entry — but here we are. ICYMI: Merriam-Webster has added over 600 new words to the dictionary, and most of them are a pretty, uh, "on-brand" reflection of how millennials tend to communicate with each other in 2019. "Stan," which is defined by Merriam-Webster as "an extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted fan," joins terms like "swole [1]" and "page view [2]" on the recently updated list, along with "snowflake [3]." Read ahead to see a few more of our favorite new Merriam-Webster definitions.
- On-brand (adjective) [5]: Typical of a particular brand or public image or identity.
- Peak (adjective) [6]: Metaphorically extended to mean "being at the height of popularity, use, or attention," as in "peak television" (or maybe "peak word nerd").
- Snowflake (noun) [7]: Now used to mean both "someone regarded or treated as unique or special" and "someone who is overly sensitive."
- Buzzy (adjective) [8]: Causing or characterized by a lot of speculative or excited talk or attention (that is, generating buzz).
- Screen time (noun) [9]: This first referred to the amount of time someone appeared in front of a camera in a movie (a use dating back to the golden age of Hollywood) and now referring to time spent in front of a screen.
- Gender nonconforming (adjective) [10]: Exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one's sex.
- Top surgery (noun) [11]: A type of gender confirmation surgery [12] in which a person's breasts are removed or augmented to match their gender identity.
- Bottom surgery (noun) [13]: A type of gender confirmation surgery in which a person's genitalia are altered to match their gender identity.
- Bottle episode (noun) [14]: An inexpensively produced episode of a television series that is typically confined to one setting.
- EGOT (noun) [15]: The acronym that stands for the rare achievement of winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.