Editing Merriam-Webster (section)

==History==
===19th century===
{{main|Noah Webster}}
{{Further|Webster's Dictionary}}
[[File:Collegiate Dictionary.jpg|thumb|The 11th edition of ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'']]
In 1806, Webster published his first dictionary, [[s:A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language|''A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language'']]. The following year, in 1807, Webster began two consecutive decades of intensive work to expand his publication into a fully comprehensive dictionary, ''An American Dictionary of the English Language''. To help trace the etymology of words, Webster learned 26 languages. Webster hoped to standardize American speech, since Americans in different parts of the [[United States]] used somewhat different vocabularies and spelled, pronounced, and used words differently.

In 1825, while spending a year abroad at the [[University of Cambridge]] and then in Paris, Webster completed this dictionary, which featured 70,000 words, about 12,000 of which had never before appeared in a dictionary. A [[spelling reform]]er, Webster believed that [[English language|English]] spelling rules were unnecessarily complex and used the dictionary to introduce [[American English]] spellings, replacing ''colour'' with ''color'', ''waggon'' with ''wagon'', and ''centre'' with ''center''. He also added American words, including ''[[skunk]]'' and ''[[Squash (plant)|squash]]'', that did not appear in British dictionaries. Three years later, at age of 70 in 1828, Webster published the dictionary. But the dictionary proved a commercial disappointment, selling only 2,500 copies and leaving him in debt. In 1840, however, he released a second edition, which was published in two volumes and proved a vastly greater commercial success.

In 1843, following Webster's death, [[George Merriam]] and Charles Merriam secured publishing and revision rights to Webster's 1840 dictionary. Four years later, in 1847, they published a revised version of it, which did not change any of the main text but added new sections. In 1859, they published a second update with illustrations. In 1864, Merriam published a greatly expanded edition, which was the first version to change Webster's text, largely overhauling his work yet retaining many of his definitions and the title, ''An American Dictionary''. In 1884, the edition contained 118,000 words, "3000 more than any other English dictionary".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Webster's Unabridged|journal=The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts|date=February 11, 1884|volume=1|issue=10|page=160|url=https://archive.org/stream/weekcanadianjour01toro#page/n81/mode/1up|access-date=April 26, 2013}}</ref>

In 1890, they published a dictionary, which they retitled ''Webster's International''. The vocabulary was vastly expanded in ''Webster's New International'' editions published in  1909 and 1934, featuring over half a million words. Their 1934 edition was retrospectively called ''Webster's Second International'', or simply "The Second Edition" of the New International.

In 1898, ''Collegiate Dictionary'', now in its eleventh edition, was introduced. In 1890, following publication of ''Webster's International''. two ''Collegiate'' editions were issued as abridgments of each of their ''Unabridged'' editions.

===20th century===
Since the 1940s, the company has released several specialized dictionaries, language aides, and other references. In 1961, Merriam overhauled the dictionary again, publishing ''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary|Webster's Third New International]]'', edited by [[Philip Babcock Gove|Philip B. Gove]], whose revisions sparked public controversy. Many of the changes were in formatting, omitting needless [[punctuation]], or avoiding complete sentences when a phrase was sufficient. Others more controversial revisions signaled a shift from [[linguistic prescriptivism]] and towards [[Linguistic description|describing]] American English as it was used at that time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title = The Definition of a Dictionary|url = http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2015/01/merriam_webster_dictionary_what_should_an_online_dictionary_look_like.html|newspaper=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|date = January 12, 2015|access-date = July 12, 2015|issn = 1091-2339|first = Stefan|last = Fatsis}}</ref>

In 1964, the company became a subsidiary of [[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]

In 1983, in the ninth edition of the ''Collegiate'' titled ''Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary'' (WNNCD), the ''Collegiate'' adopted changes which distinguish it as a separate entity rather than merely an abridgment of the ''Third New International'', whose main text has remained virtually unrevised since 1961. Some proper names were returned to the word list, including names of [[Knights of the Round Table]]. The most notable change was the inclusion of the date of the first known citation of each word, to document its entry into [[English language|English]].

In 1983, after losing the right to exclusive use of the name Webster, its name was changed to Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, which was first reflected with publication of ''Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. Previous publications used '''A Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' as a subtitle.

===21st century===
In 2003, the eleventh edition of ''Collegiate'', was published, including over 225,000 definitions and more than 165,000 entries. A [[CD-ROM]] of the text is sometimes included. This dictionary is the preferred source "for general matters of spelling" by ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', which is followed by many U.S.-based book publishers and magazines. The ''Chicago Manual'' states that it "normally opts for" the first spelling listed.<ref>''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', 15th edition, New York and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003, Chapter 7: "Spelling, Distinctive Treatment of Words, and Compounds", Section 7.1 "Introduction", p. 278.</ref>

The dictionary maintains an active social media presence, where it frequently posts dictionary-related content and its views on politics. Its [[Twitter]] account frequently used dictionary jargon to criticize and lampoon the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pitofsky|first=Marina|date=2019-09-13|title=Merriam-Webster: A 200-year-old dictionary offers hot political takes on Twitter|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/uncategorized/461285-merriam-webster-a-200-year-old-dictionary-offers-hot|access-date=2021-11-13|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=18 Times Merriam-Webster Was a Political Troll|url=https://time.com/4774687/merriam-webster-dictionary-politics-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/|access-date=2021-11-13|magazine=Time|language=en}}</ref> In November 2021, for instance, Merriam Webster subtly accused [[Kyle Rittenhouse]] of fake crying at his trial in a tweet that went viral.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kyle Rittenhouse Gets Trolled By Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Crying in Court|url=https://www.mediaite.com/news/kyle-rittenhouse-gets-trolled-by-merriam-webster-dictionary-for-crying-in-court/}}</ref>