7 words that capture the essence of autumn

With blustery gales, golden leaves and darker evenings ahead, autumn is the perfect time of year to indulge in your favourite treats and activities. To celebrate the most bountiful season, we’ve curated a selection of words that capture its essence, from delicious treats to the words that capture that crisp… Read More

9 essential gaming words decoded

Over the last few years, the video gaming industry has seen a huge boom, with a recent report from Accenture claiming the global industry value now exceeds $300 billion. At Collins Dictionaries, we’ve noted its impact on the day-to-day vocabulary of a nation. For example,… Read More

Words matter: thoughts on language and Black History Month

The work of historians is increasingly emphasising something that many in the Black community have known for a long time: the profound influence of Africa and the Caribbean on British culture. Last month, I began a PhD and my research is focused on mahogany in English country houses. Chippendale cabinets… Read More
talking red

Celebrate National Poetry Day

This year’s annual National Poetry Day, the thirty-eighth, falls on Thursday 7 October. National Poetry Day (NPD) was founded in 1994 by an arts charity – the Forward Arts Foundation – and has gone from strength to strength, boosting, inter alia, sales of poetry: the graph… Read More
research yellow

Is the autumn equinox the start of a new season?

There are just a handful of astronomical events that non-specialists like me know of, and one of them will be upon us very soon: the autumn equinox. On 22 September 2021, day and night will be equal in length across the whole world. How so?… Read More
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