'Unabridged' explores the history of the dictionary – and why it’s in trouble now

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day

Episode: "‘Unabridged’ explores the history of the dictionary – and why it’s in trouble now"

Host: NPR’s Don Gonyea
Guest: Stefan Fatsis (author of The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary)
Date: December 25, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the fascinating and sometimes tumultuous history of the dictionary, based on Stefan Fatsis' new book The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary. Moving from Noah Webster’s foundational work to the present-day threats posed by technology and AI, the discussion spans historical anecdotes, the painstaking process of adding new words, and the existential challenges facing dictionary publishers in the digital age.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Enduring Allure and Authority of the Dictionary

• Dictionaries were once best sellers and a core authority on language.
• With the internet and now AI, the way we seek definitions and learn about language has radically shifted.
  • "For many decades, dictionaries were best sellers and seen as the authority on the English language. But the Internet and more recently artificial intelligence have transformed how we get information, including definitions of words." (Host, 01:15)

2. Noah Webster and the Birth of the American Dictionary

• Who was Noah Webster?
  • "Noah Webster was a newspaper publisher, a politician, a revolutionary, and most famously, a lexicographer. He was the founding father of the American dictionary." (Fatsis, 02:05)
• Webster’s drive to create an American dictionary stemmed from a desire to forge national identity through language.
  • "He felt that language defined who we are as a people and who we are as a nation. And that meant finding, defining, and including in his dictionary American words like revolutionary and Americanize and words from Native American culture like maize and canoe and snowshoe." (Fatsis, 02:46)

3. Inside Merriam-Webster: Defining Words as a Lexicographer

• Fatsis embedded with Merriam-Webster, training as a lexicographer.
  • "I had to learn the procedures for researching and writing about words...this was this wonderful opportunity to explore how the sausage is made in curating contemporary English." (Fatsis, 03:28)
• He was determined to get his own definitions accepted—an unexpectedly tough challenge.
  • "When I got there, my very first day...I said, oh, I want to write definitions. And he said, definitions that get in the dictionary? And I said, yeah. And he said, well, we'll see about that." (Fatsis, 04:22)
  • Only 14 of about 90 words he defined have made it online so far. Notables include "microaggression," "safe space," "dogpile," and "headbutt." (Fatsis, 05:14)
  • Example of rejection: "One that I really liked was a concussion related word called the fencing response...I thought that was gonna get in, but it didn't." (Fatsis, 05:34)

4. Words as Political, Controversial, and Culturally Loaded

• Definition choices can be political and spark controversy.
• Anecdote: In 1959, Merriam-Webster’s editor included the F-word in a new edition, but the president of the company removed it for being too offensive—showing ongoing battles over what’s deemed acceptable.
  • "Gove wanted everything to be in the dictionary. He defined the F word just like every other word. And the president of Merriam Webster struck it from the book. It was the one word...felt was too offensive..." (Fatsis, 06:37)

5. The Speed and Nature of Language Change in the Digital Era

• Every generation feels theirs is the most linguistically revolutionary.
• The internet (and now social media) has dramatically accelerated how quickly new words are adopted.
  • "A word can go from obscure or brand new to widely used seemingly overnight. That was never the case." (Fatsis, 07:48)

6. Existential Threats Facing the Modern Dictionary

• "The most likely way that people look up words is they type a word into a space bar on Google...Google added what are called knowledge panels. They licensed information from dictionary publishers and put their own definition up there. That's usually enough for a reader." (Fatsis, 08:27)
• With AI, snippets and summaries are generated from multiple sources, pushing users away from dictionary websites, and threatening their ad-based business models.
  • "The business threat there is that, you know, commercial dictionaries, the few that are left need people going to their websites so that they can have advertising that's threatened by these developments technologically." (Fatsis, 08:47)
• Merriam-Webster’s effort to diversify: games, apps, newsletters, and new engagement strategies for survival.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the challenges of lexicography:
  "I spent days, weeks, working on definitions of words that professional lexicographers in the building would have banged out in much, much less time." (Fatsis, 04:48)

• On the politics of what words belong:
  "The president of Merriam Webster struck it from the book. It was the one word that the president of Merriam Webster felt was too offensive, would trigger readers, that would send 11 year old boys looking it up." (Fatsis, 07:01)

• On rapid language change:
  "A word can go from obscure or brand new to widely used seemingly overnight. That was never the case." (Fatsis, 07:48)

• On the business threat from Google and AI:
  "The most likely way that people look up words is they type a word into a space bar on Google...15 years ago, 10 years ago, Google added...knowledge panels.... And more recently with the advent of AI, Google's AI overview will take information from around the Internet and sum it up." (Fatsis, 08:27)

• On Merriam-Webster’s survival strategy:
  "There are a lot of games on its website now. There are apps and newsletters and other ways to generate revenue that take it away from the traditional lexicography that the company has been doing since Noah Webster.... The hope is that the innovation that Merriam has undertaken will save the business of lexicography for many more generations to come." (Fatsis, 08:59)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:13 – Introduction to the book and the changing role of dictionaries
• 02:05 – Who was Noah Webster and his motivations
• 03:28 – Fatsis’s experience embedded at Merriam-Webster
• 05:14 – Words defined, accepted, and rejected by Fatsis
• 06:20 – The politics and controversy of word inclusion (notably the F-word episode)
• 07:48 – The accelerating pace of language change in the internet age
• 08:27 – The existential business threats to dictionary publishers from Google and AI
• 08:59 – Merriam-Webster’s strategies for adaptation and survival

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Conclusion

This episode is a lively and insightful look at the ever-evolving world of dictionaries, from their foundational role in shaping American identity to the modern challenges presented by technology and shifting cultural norms. Fatsis brings both reverence and realism, showing how the craft of lexicography blends painstaking tradition with the constant pressure to adapt.

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Transcript

[A]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong and I can't think of a better crowd than this one. Yes, I'm talking to you who might be hyped to get for Christmas a book about the dictionary. Thankfully, Stefan Fatsis has just written that book. It's titled the Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary. And as you can tell from that title, it's not just a history of the dictionary and some of the spicier fights over including certain words, but it's also an exploration of what the the future of the dictionary looks like in the world of AI. His interview with NPR's Don Gagne after the break.

[B]

Support for NPR and the following message come from Warby Parker, the one stop shop for all your vision needs. They offer expertly crafted prescription eyewear plus contacts, eye exams and more. For everything you need to see. Visit your nearest Warby Parker store or head to warbyparker.com this message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.comt's and C's apply.

[C]

It's a deceptively simple book and at the same time impossibly ambitious. It's utilitarian, but also incredibly erudite. I mean, talking about the dictionary, for many decades, dictionaries were best sellers and seen as the authority on the English language. But the Internet and more recently artificial intelligence have transformed how we get information, including definitions of words. Stefan Fatsis has written about all of this in his new book, the Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary. He joins us now from our studio in New York. Stefan, welcome to the show.

[D]

Great to be with you, Don.

[C]

So let's start with a little history. I think we've all heard the name Webster, but who was he?

[D]

Noah Webster was a newspaper publisher, a politician, a revolutionary, and most famously, a lexicographer. He was the founding father of the American dictionary. He published his first dictionary, it was called the compendious dictionary in 1806. And it was panned because Noah Webster had some kind of crazy ideas about spelling and etymologies. And he started over and he finally, in 1828, published his grand work, An American Dictionary of the English Language.

[C]

Why did he think we needed a dictionary of the American language?

[D]

Because he very much believed in the American identity. He felt that language defined who we are as a people and who we are as a nation. And that meant finding, defining, and including in his dictionary American words like revolutionary and Americanize and words from Native American culture like maize and canoe and snowshoe. He wanted his dictionary to reflect this new country at this period of time.

[C]

Okay, so your research for the book included embedding with Merriam Webster at their headquarters. It's in Springfield, Massachusetts. What was that like?

[D]

It was a lot of fun. I persuaded the publisher of Merriam Webster at the time, a guy named John Morse, to let me write a book and also to basically take me on as a lexicographer in training. So I had to learn the procedures for researching and writing about words. I've been curious about language and dictionaries since I was a kid. So this was this wonderful opportunity to explore how the sausage is made in curating contemporary English, having access to this absolute trove of archival information about the American language.

[C]

And in your time there, you were a bit obsessed, I think it's fair to say, with the idea of getting into the dictionary yourself, of writing a definition for new word.

[D]

Totally. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm. I'm obsessive by nature a little bit. And when I got there, my very first day, I met the guy that would become my editor, named Steve Perot, whose title is the best in, you know, maybe all of media. He was the director of Defining. I love that. And when I saw Steve that first day, he said, well, what do you want to do while you're here? And I said, oh, I want to write definitions. And he said, definitions that get in the dictionary? And I said, yeah. And he said, well, we'll see about that. And. And he wasn't just being dismissive. He was being realistic, because this is incredibly hard work. I spent days, weeks, working on definitions of words that professional lexicographers in the building would have banged out in much, much less time.

[C]

What's a word you pitched and how did Steve Perot reject it, kindly or otherwise?

[D]

Well, I defined about 90 words, and 14 have made it so far into Merriam Webster's online dictionary. I got microaggression and safe space and dogpile and headbutt, words that were part of culture. And we think of them as, oh, those are pretty common. But it takes a while for words to bubble up and to sort of become part of the list of words that need to get in. But the words that got rejected, some of them I feel should be in there. I mean, one of my. One that I really liked was a concussion related word called the fencing response. It's what happens when someone sort of hits their head and their arms go up in the air? It's a scientific term. I thought that was gonna get in, but it didn't. Others were more frivolous. I tried to define sportocrat, which means a executive for the IOC or the FIFA, the international soccer body. These sort of these old men in blue blazers who are extremely privileged and there's a bunch of that, and you'll see it occasionally in sports writing.

[C]

So words and their definitions can be political and of course they can be controversial. Tell us about the covert operation from 1959 to remove the F word from the dictionary, Don. That's exactly it. Yeah.

[D]

Yes. So the editor of the third, Philip Gove, believed very much, and this was a principle of this revolutionary dictionary which generated tremendous cultural response after it was published in 1961. A backlash actually, because it was viewed as permissive. Philip Gove's driving belief was that the dictionary should be descriptivist. It should give the reader explanations for how words are used, not proscriptivist, telling readers what to do with the words. And so Gove wanted everything to be in the dictionary. He defined the F word just like every other word. And the president of Merriam Webster struck it from the book. It was the one word that the president of Merriam Webster felt was too offensive, would trigger readers, that would send 11 year old boys looking it up.

[C]

Is language actually changing more quickly nowadays? We seem to be living in hyperspace. It seems like there are new words coming out of social media, out of technology. Is it changing more quickly?

[D]

Every era of dictionary has believed that its era is the most fruitful in the creation of new language. Yes, the Internet has speeded everything up. So the main difference is that a word can go from obscure or brand new to widely used seemingly overnight. That was never the case. And that is pressed the remaining dictionary publishers to have a more open minded approach to new terminology.

[C]

And what is the future of the dictionary? Language is doing just fine. But the dictionary itself threatened.

[D]

The most likely way that people look up words is they type a word into a space bar on Google. And 15 years ago, 10 years ago, Google added what are called knowledge panels. They licensed information from dictionary publishers and put their own definition up there. That's usually enough for a reader. And more recently with the advent of AI, Google's AI overview will take information from around the Internet and sum it up. And the business threat there is that, you know, commercial dictionaries, the few that are left need people going to their websites so that they can have advertising that's threatened by these developments technologically. And so what's Merriam Webster doing? Diversifying. There are a lot of games on its website now. There are apps and newsletters and other ways to generate revenue that take it away from the traditional lexicography that the company has been doing since Noah Webster. The hope is that the innovation that Merriam has undertaken will save the business of lexicography for many more generations to come.

[C]

We have been talking with Stefan Fatsis. His book is called On a Bridge. Stefan, thanks so much for talking to us.

[D]

Thanks, Don. Thanks for having me.

[A]

And just a reminder that signing up for book of the day plus is a great way to support NPR's book coverage and public media. And you'll get to listen to every episode sponsor free. So please go find out [e-mail] BookOfTheDay.

[E]

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[B]

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