Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster [5]
1near adverb
3good adverb
un·wor·thy … adjective
Inflected forms are not shown at undefined run-ons.
CAPITALIZATION
Most entries in this dictionary begin with a lowercase letter. A few of these have an italicized label often cap, which indicates that the word is as likely to be capitalized as not and that it is as acceptable with an uppercase initial as it is with one in lowercase. Some entries begin with an uppercase letter, which indicates that the word is usually capitalized. The absence of an initial capital or of an often cap label indicates that the word is not ordinarily capitalized:
salm·on … noun
gar·gan·tuan … adjective, often cap
Mo·hawk … noun
The capitalization of entries that are open or hyphenated compounds is similarly indicated by the form of the entry or by an italicized label:
french fry noun, often cap 1st F
un–Amer·i·can … adjective
Par·kin·son's disease … noun
lazy Su·san … noun
A word that is capitalized in some senses and lowercase in others shows variations from the form of the main entry by the use of italicized labels at the appropriate senses:
Trin·i·ty … noun … 2 not cap
To·ry … noun … 3 often not cap
ti·tan … noun 1 cap
re·nais·sance … noun … 1 cap … 2 often cap
ETYMOLOGY
This dictionary gives the etymologies for a number of the vocabulary entries. These etymologies are in boldface square brackets preceding the definition, and are introduced by the word ORIGIN in small capitals. Meanings given in roman type within these brackets are not definitions of the entry, but are meanings of the Middle English, Old English, or non-English words within the brackets.
The etymology gives the language from which words borrowed into English have come. It also gives the form of the word in that language or a representation of the word in our alphabet if the form in that language differs from that in English:
philo·den·dron …
[ORIGIN: NL, fr. Gk, neut. of philodendros loving trees … ]
1sav·age …
[ORIGIN: ME sauvage, fr. MF, fr. ML salvaticus, alter. of L silvaticus of the woods, wild … ]
An etymology beginning with the name of a language (including ME or OE) and not giving the foreign (or Middle English or Old English) form indicates that this form is the same as the form of the entry word:
le·gume …
[ORIGIN: F]
1jour·ney …
[ORIGIN: ME, fr. OF … ]
An etymology beginning with the name of a language (including ME or OE) and not giving the foreign (or Middle English or Old English) meaning indicates that this meaning is the same as the meaning expressed in the first definition in the entry:
ug·ly … adjective …
[ORIGIN: ME, fr. ON uggligr … ] 1 FRIGHTFUL, DIRE
USAGE
Three types of status labels are used in this dictionary—temporal, regional, and stylistic—to signal that a word or a sense of a word is not part of the standard vocabulary of English.
The temporal label obsolete means that there is no evidence of use since 1755:
3post noun 1 obsolete
The label obsolete is a comment on the word being defined. When a thing, as distinguished from the word used to designate it, is obsolete, appropriate orientation is usually given in the definition:
cat·a·pult … noun 1 : an ancient military machine for hurling missiles
The temporal label archaic means that a word or sense once in common use is found today only sporadically or in special contexts:
1mete … verb … 1 archaic
1thou … pronoun, archaic
A word or sense limited in use to a specific region of the U.S. has an appropriate label. The adverb chiefly precedes a label when the word has some currency outside the specified region, and a double label is used to indicate considerable currency in each of two specific regions:
2wash noun … 5 West
do·gie … noun, chiefly West
crul·ler