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> However, to be an honest descriptivist, you must acknowledge that words are used in certain ways more frequently than others. Definitions attempt to capture t
by furyofantares 1y ago
> However, to be an honest descriptivist, you must acknowledge that words are used in certain ways more frequently than others. Definitions attempt to capture the canonical usage of a word.
True. And that's generally how they order the definitions in the dictionary, in order of usage.
For example, "an unfounded or mistaken impression or notion" is indeed the 2nd definition in M-W for "hallucination", not the first.
- trehalose 1y agoA dictionary entry's second definition isn't necessarily an uncommonly used one. It could be up to 49% of the word's usage (assuming the dictionary has such precise statistics).