The 640 new words and definitions added to the online dictionary Merriam-Webster.com on Tuesday include economic and financial terms going mainstream, which “offer a window into how the English language is changing and expanding,” according to the press release.
Business terms include “gig economy,” or the rising force of freelance and temporary workers, often doing side jobs, and overall, the on-demand work typically found in the service sector. This might include driving an Uber or Lyft LYFT, -0.57% , selling goods on Etsy ETSY, +2.87% and Ebay EBAY, +1.58% , or doing chores on TaskRabbit. Indeed, more than one-third of U.S. workers, or about 57 million people, are currently hustling in the gig economy.
The term was recently used by NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson in February to argue against Amazon’s AMZN, +1.87% then-plan to come to Queens. “I hope this is the start of a conversation about vulture capitalism and where our tax dollars are best spent,” he said. Merriam-Webster also quotes a 2012 Bloomberg story citing charges that Mitt Romney was a vulture capitalist for his work at Bain Capital as an example of the often disparaging business term being used in a sentence.