“White supremacist” and “Antifa.”
Those were the top two searched words on Merriam-Webster following Tuesday night’s raucous presidential debate.
Other top queries on Merriam-Webster were “petulant,” “fascism,” and “racism,” according to the dictionary’s lexicographer, Peter Sokolowski.
Both Sokolowski and Merriam-Webster’s official twitter account tweeted out the list of words, some of which defined key moments in the debate.
The words white supremacist and Antifa, for example, took center stage when moderator Chris Wallace asked President Trump to condemn white supremacists and militia groups who have exacerbated violence in cities experiencing frequent protests.
Trump refused to label any particular group as white supremacists. But he told the right-wing group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
The president then blamed the violence in cities like Portland on Antifa.
“This is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing problem,” Trump said.