# Merriam-Webster **Entity class:** Company (dictionary publisher, Springfield, Massachusetts) **Domain:** American Lexicography / Reference Authority **Concept Hub:** [[wiki/Lexicographic Succession|Lexicographic Succession]] ## Definition **Merriam-Webster is the American dictionary publisher descended from [[wiki/Noah Webster|Noah Webster]]'s *American Dictionary of the English Language*, owned since 1964 by [[wiki/Encyclopaedia Britannica|Encyclopaedia Britannica]].** It is the principal institutional heir of the American claim to a reference layer of its own. ## Machine-Age Contest With Britannica, Merriam-Webster sued Perplexity on September 11, 2025, and OpenAI in March 2026 in the Southern District of New York. The OpenAI complaint reports that ChatGPT, asked for Merriam-Webster's definition of "plagiarize," returned language identical to the dictionary's entry, and states that "OpenAI imperils the very market for the high-quality content that it copies and reproduces." The allegations are unadjudicated. [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] treats the suits as documentary evidence that the answer engine has become the dictionary. ## Relationships - **Lineage:** [[wiki/Noah Webster|Noah Webster]] → Merriam-Webster → [[wiki/Encyclopaedia Britannica|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] (owner since 1964). - **Concepts:** [[wiki/Lexicographic Succession|Lexicographic Succession]] · [[wiki/Generative Canon|Generative Canon]]. - **Source article:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] in [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]]. - **Founding work:** [[wiki/An American Dictionary of the English Language|An American Dictionary of the English Language]] (1828); rights acquired by George and Charles Merriam after Webster's death in 1843. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “OpenAI imperils the very market for the high-quality content that it copies and reproduces.” > **— Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster**, *complaint against OpenAI, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, March 2026* [[reminders/Capture/OpenAI Imperils the Market for the Content It Copies by Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster|OpenAI Imperils the Market for the Content It Copies by Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster]] > “It has been my aim in this work, now offered to my fellow citizens, to ascertain the true principles of the language, in its orthography and structure; to purify it from some palpable errors, and reduce the number of its anomalies, thus giving it more regularity and consistency in its forms, both of words and sentences; and in this manner, to furnish a standard of our vernacular tongue, which we shall not be ashamed to bequeath to three hundred millions of people, who are destined to occupy, and I hope, to adorn the vast territory within our jurisdiction.” > **— Noah Webster**, *Preface to An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828* [[reminders/Civilization/A Standard of Our Vernacular Tongue for Three Hundred Million People by Noah Webster|A Standard of Our Vernacular Tongue for Three Hundred Million People by Noah Webster]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica,_Inc.) (accessed September 22, 2026). - [Britannica, Merriam-Webster Sue Perplexity For Alleged Copyright Infringement](https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/408882/britannica-merriam-webster-sue-perplexity-for-all.html) (MediaPost, September 12, 2025). - [Dictionaries suing OpenAI](https://fortune.com/2026/03/18/dictionaries-suing-openai-chatgpt-copyright-infringement/) (*Fortune*, March 18, 2026).