Practical? Or Meddling, Very Busy, and Impertinent?

Earlier this week, with his deep dive into Merriam-Webster, Stefan Fatsis went to great lengths to explore the future of words. Or, more accurately, the future of defining words. In the video above, we consider the past and present of one word in particular—Merriam-Webster’s most looked-up modern definition, pragmatic (formerly pragmatical). In many ways, its history embodies the evolution of the dictionary.