Addictionary

March 3rd, 2009 in News, by Head Honcho

Legendary playwright William Shakespeare is said to have created many new words during the course of his career. Numbering to hundreds, his coined words include mimic, enrapt, frugal, switch and pander. No one man today can probably outclass Shakespeare in the word-creation department. Not one man, mind you. But a crowd? Easily, as Addictionary has shown.

Succinctly stated, Addictionary is all about making up new words. Here is the site’s pitch:

The Addictionary is a site for word lovers and those who like to see our beloved English language grow in serious or humorous ways. We built the Addictionary to empower word-play and to help lovers of word-play showcase and market their cleverness and creativity to the world.

With Addictionary, You get to make up a word and its corresponding definition. You also have an option to indicate the word type (i.e. if it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and to use the word in a sentence.

If you have a definition in mind, but can’t conjure a corresponding word for it, Addictionary has a feature called There Ought to be a Word. Members will then make up a corresponding term for that particular definition. Guests and other members alike will have the chance to vote on the words given - giving a thumbs up for the good ones and a thumbs down for the bad.

Addictionary also has a section for contests. From time to time, companies or individuals sponsor the contest, where the winner gets a prize.

Of course, anyone can browse through the words coined by all the members - and there are some really good and witty ones. Take for example, photox, defined as using Photoshop to clone out wrinkles, blemishes and other imperfections. See also shopdrifter, who is a person that takes an item off the shelf in a grocery store, then later decides they don’t want it and places it on some random shelf elsewhere in the store.

This crowdsourcing model of creating new words has been proven successful for the site’s developers. The site has already spawned an Political version and an Office version. What’s more, the developers of Addictionary has already produced a book out of their site.

Here is a news video about Addictionary.