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What are Conversational Entries?

Conversational definitions are those definitions wherein you write the definition into the normal discourse. A quick search of Wordnik (https://www.wordnik.com), the world’s largest online dictionary (as measured by numbers of words) run by Erin McKean, shows how they pick up and enter definitions through conversational definitions.

The term in question is deepfake. It was picked up by Wordnik and reported in their Word Buzz Wednesday blog entry, taken from the New York Times20. As you can see in the illustration below, the term deepfake was bracketed with quotes and then the definition immediately follows.

deepfake

Through what we see here, conversational definitions have two parts; the term and the definition, without formally introducing either one, and without any cataloging of the terms.

To write conversational entries, follow steps 1 through 3 of how to write definitions.

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  • 20 “Word Buzz Wednesday: Deepfake, Shimming, Gluggaveður | Wordnik.” Accessed April 13, 2018. https://blog.wordnik.com/word-buzz-wednesday-deepfake-shimming-gluggavedur, https://blog.wordnik.com/word-buzz-wednesday-deepfake-shimming-gluggavedur.

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