Merriam-Webster Adds 1,400 Words to Online Dictionary, Including 'trash panda,' 'vibe coding,' and 'looksmaxxing'

Merriam-Webster announced an update to its online dictionary that adds 1,400 new words and definitions. The update was published in September 2026 and timed around the start of fall social-season vocabulary (the article references "cuffing season"). The publisher says entries are selected through a data-driven review: words must show widespread use over time to be added.

The new entries give a snapshot of language shaped by social media, internet culture, food trends, and everyday emotional vocabulary. Adding these words makes the dictionary reflect how people currently communicate and search for definitions online.

• trash panda: a colloquial name for a raccoon.
• Sunday scaries: anxiety or dread often felt before the workweek starts.
• vibe coding: a social-media–style term related to assigning or curating an aesthetic or vibe.
• looksmaxxing: practices, sometimes extreme, intended to increase physical attractiveness.
• Rickroll: tricking someone into hearing the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley.
• crashout: several senses listed, including a mental or emotional breakdown, a dramatic failure, an emotional outburst, a vehicular crash, or a disqualifying loss.
• cake pop: a lollipop made of compressed cake crumbs and icing, coated and often decorated.
• meme coin: an altcoin typically created as a humorous tribute to a meme or person, generally with no real utility.
• parasocial: describing a one-sided emotional connection with someone (often a celebrity or fictional character) whom one does not know personally.
• bao: a steamed or sometimes baked soft bread bun stuffed with sweet or savory filling.

• promposal: an extravagant or elaborate way to ask someone to be your prom date.
• shishito and whack-a-mole: included among other culinary and cultural entries.

Merriam-Webster uses a data-driven process to evaluate additions. Words are considered for inclusion when they show sustained, widespread usage across sources. Entries can include specialized vocabulary as well as widely adopted slang and cultural terms.

The selection highlights how informal speech, internet memes, niche subcultures, and food trends move into common usage. Several entries are tied directly to online behavior and content (Rickroll, meme coin, vibe coding, looksmaxxing). Others record everyday emotional states and social rituals (Sunday scaries, promposal, parasocial). Food terms (bao, cake pop, shishito) reflect what people talk about and order.

• If you use or encounter these terms in conversation, reporting, or content, Merriam-Webster now provides standard definitions you can cite.
• The update reflects a broader trend: dictionaries increasingly add internet-driven and niche terms once they reach sustained public use.

September 18, 2026. It emphasizes the breadth of the batch and notes that only a subset of the 1,400 entries were highlighted in that announcement.