Have you ever struggled to find the perfect word meaning the exact thing that you are feeling or the exact thing that is happening? The Oxford English Dictionary might contain 171,476 words - but despite frequently adding cool words from the modern lexicon (including bae, yeesh, and hasbian), not all of them make the cut.
The Book of Everyone is a platform dedicated to finding out weird curiosities and facts about the world. We discovered that there's a secret (not so secret anymore) vault owned by the Oxford University Press that stores interesting words that have been rejected to be included in the dictionary. Over the last year, we've posted these delightful, unused, and rare words on our Facebook page and are now sharing the collection here with you! Scroll down below to check out this unofficial dictionary words vocab, and don't forget to upvote your favorite weird words!
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What's the criteria for rejection? 'Wibble-wobble' has been a phrase in use for a long time. Wibble, used by itself would be a natural evolution of use.
In order to even be considered for entry into the OED, new words are first added to a “watch list.” These new word contributions come from a wide variety of sources like crowdsourcing appeals. There are thousands of entries each year. Editors are assigned a new word or words from the “watch list” to conduct in-depth research on. They search newspapers, magazines, books, Social media forums, etc. for the usage and information about their assigned terms. Once the editor has obtained substantial meeting regarding a term, they begin to draft a dictionary entry for review by OED researchers. Words that do not have substantial information collected, or not widely used, remain on the watch list for further analysis and review. I’m sure sure the entire process is much more detailed than this, but I like sharing info about this type of stuff as I work in linguistics.
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Rejected because they have stiff upper lips? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHrSkVKdCRk
I've been using this for a while. I assumed it was a legit meaning of the word!
Grammar isn't my strong suit, but this doesn't seem like it should be a noun...
Oh hey, my friend does this a whole lot. I love him, and I'm really trying to get him to stop.
There's actually a food truck that runs in my area that is called Locavore. I still think it's a funny word/name. In my head it means someone who eats trains.
Dear Kates, if you say "quote on quote" one more time, I will barf. One day we counted the number of times you used that term for your 15 minute presentation, it was TWENTY TWO TIMES!!
Shouldn't that be precuperate? Like recuperate pre illness? It's also easier to say than percuperate.
Also called an outdated person and a fool for doing that while driving.
Yes, Rich Hall. I bought his "Sniglets" book back in the 80's.
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I'm wonder why some words change meaning over time. What makes them reject to these words.
Lack of usage. A word has the have considerable usage, usually over time and in print media, before it is considered to be dictionary worthy.
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I'm still trying to find a word for the illusion when you buy something at a store that comes in a box, and the box gets bigger as you walk toward your car.
Cloms - clothes in your closet, purchased by your mom that you will never wear.
Yes, Rich Hall. I bought his "Sniglets" book back in the 80's.
Load More Replies... I'm wonder why some words change meaning over time. What makes them reject to these words.
Lack of usage. A word has the have considerable usage, usually over time and in print media, before it is considered to be dictionary worthy.
Load More Replies... I'm still trying to find a word for the illusion when you buy something at a store that comes in a box, and the box gets bigger as you walk toward your car.
Cloms - clothes in your closet, purchased by your mom that you will never wear.
