#65

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007
Thousands of you took part in the search for Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007, and the vast majority of you chose a small word that packs a pretty big punch. The word you've selected hasn't found its way into a regular Merriam-Webster dictionary yet—but its inclusion in our online Open Dictionary, along with the top honors it's now been awarded—might just improve its chances. This year's winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team"—again stemming from the gaming community.
Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2007 based on votes from visitors to our Web site:

1. w00t (interjection)
expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay"
w00t! I won the contest!
Submitted by: Kat from Massachusetts on Nov. 30, 2005 23:18


Click on each of the other words in the Top Ten List for their definitions in either Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary or Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary:
facebook
conundrum
quixotic
blamestorm
sardoodledom
apathetic
Pecksniffian
hypocrite
charlatan



from

#22

rhyme [rahym] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, rhymed, rhym·ing.
–noun
1.
identity in sound of some part, esp. the end, of words or lines of verse.
2.
a word agreeing with another in terminal sound: Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.
3.
verse or poetry having correspondence in the terminal sounds of the lines.
4.
a poem or piece of verse having such correspondence.
5.
verse (def. 4).
–verb (used with object)
6.
to treat in rhyme, as a subject; turn into rhyme, as something in prose.
7.
to compose (verse or the like) in metrical form with rhymes.
8.
to use (a word) as a rhyme to another word; use (words) as rhymes.
–verb (used without object)
9.
to make rhyme or verse; versify.
10.
to use rhyme in writing verse.
11.
to form a rhyme, as one word or line with another: a word that rhymes with orange.
12.
to be composed in metrical form with rhymes, as verse: poetry that rhymes.
—Idiom
13.
rhyme or reason, logic, sense, or plan: There was no rhyme or reason for what they did.
Also, rime.


[Origin: 1250–1300; ME rime < OF, deriv. of rimer to rhyme < Gallo-Romance *rimāre to put in a row ≪ OHG rīm series, row; prob. not connected with L rhythmus rhythm, although current sp. (from c1600) appar. by assoc. with this word]



Assonant rhyme
Rhyming of similar vowels but different consonants.
example: dip/limp

Consonant rhyme
Similar consonants but different vowels.
example: limp/lump

Eye rhyme
Based on spelling and not on sound.
example: love/move

Feminine rhyme (double, triple, extra-syllable, multi-syllable, extended)
Differing beginnings followed by multiple rhyming syllables.
example: drinking/shrinking

Identical rhyme
Uses the same word to rhyme with itself however may hold a different meaning.

Light line
Rhyming of a stressed syllable with a secondary stress.
example: mat/combat

Macaronic rhyme
Rhyming of two words with different languages.

Masculine rhyme
Differing consonant sounds ending with identically stressed syllables.
example: report/support

Near rhyme (half, slant, approximate, off, oblique)
Final consonant sounds the same but initial consonants and vowel sounds are different.
example: tought/sat

Perfect rhyme (exact, true, full)
Begins with different sounds and end with the same.
example: pie/die

Rich rhyme (French for rime riche)
Word that rhymes with its homonym.
example: blue/blew

Scarce rhyme
Rhyming of words with limited rhyming alternatives.
example: whisp/lisp

Wrenched rhyme
A stressed syllable with an unstressed one (occurs most often in ballads and folk poetry).
example: lady/a bee



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