Macquarie Dictionary

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Spring into six more new words

Welcome to our new words blog, where we share new and topical words, some of which were submitted by you via the suggest a word feature on our website.

There is a powerful stretch in the evenings. That’s right, winter is finally shuffling off the seasonal stage (to sparse applause, a chilly reception you might say, aha ha) and making room for spring. Everything is new, everything is wonderful! Here are six words for the season of renewal. 

Going to miss winter? Nurries. That’s another way of saying no worries, making this a classic case of short Aussie slang becoming even shorter.  

If you follow the news, you might have heard about wolf warrior diplomacy, a diplomatic strategy of China in which any criticism from another country is met with an immediate response or retaliation. The strategy is named after the famous Chinese movie Wolf Warrior, which has been described as a Chinese version of Rambo!

How would the wolf warriors get on against the snapping handbags? That’s a colloquial term for crocodiles. 

On a creepier note, stalkerware is a type of spyware installed on a user’s smartphone without their knowledge. Ew. You might want to zump (end the relationship via a Zoom call) the person who installs that on your phone. Otherwise they might get access to all your renegade videos – a type of dance popularised on Tik Tok. 

Let us know if you have any other suggestions. We are always happy to hear new words, no matter how big or small a usage they may have. Be sure to vote for some of these when we post them on our Instagram stories.

See other words suggested to the Macquarie Dictionary here.

nurries - another way to say ‘no worries’

renegade - a type of viral dance popularised on the TikTok app

snapping handbag - a colloquial term for a crocodile

stalkerware - a type of spyware installed without the user's knowledge on their smartphone to track their movements

wolf warrior diplomacy - a diplomatic strategy of China in which any criticism from another country is met with an immediate response, retaliation, etc

zump - to end a relationship with (someone) on a videoconference call

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