Unabridged

Privacy Policy

Updated: December 13, 2019
Effective: January 1, 2020*
*Updates include changes required to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 California residents, please see our Privacy Notice for California Residents

Our Terms of Service or Subscription License Agreement (Terms of Service) govern your use of our Services. OUR TERMS OF SERVICE MAY CONTAIN DISCLAIMERS OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY, A BINDING ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER. THESE PROVISIONS AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS ABOUT HOW TO RESOLVE ANY DISPUTE WITH MERRIAM-WEBSTER, INCLUDING UNDER THIS PRIVACY POLICY. PLEASE REVIEW. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES IS ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND OUR TERMS OF SERVICE.

For more information about the latest updates or to review the previous version, please send an email request to privacy@m-w.com or dpo@m-w.com and include “Privacy Policy Update Request” in the subject line.

Introduction

Your privacy is important to us. We understand that you are aware of and care about your privacy rights, and we take that seriously. This Privacy Policy describes Merriam-Webster's policies and practices regarding its collection and use of your personal data through our ad-free, subscription-based websites, paid-for mobile application services and any software provided on or in connection with Merriam-Webster services (Services), and sets forth your privacy rights. We do not knowingly attempt to solicit or receive information from children.

Your decision to use the Services and provide your personal data is voluntary. We indicate on our online, mobile, and other registration forms what types of personal data are requested. You may choose not to submit requested information online, or may choose to restrict the use of cookies (see our Cookie Policy or Your Rights & Choices below for more information), but that may limit the services Merriam-Webster is able to provide to you.

We recognize that information privacy is an ongoing responsibility, and so we will from time to time update this Privacy Policy as we undertake new personal data practices or adopt new privacy policies.

Cookie Notice & Cookie Policy

Our Services use cookies, which are small data files that are placed on the hard drive of your computer, tablet, smartphone or other devices when you visit a website and other tracking tools on our website and digital platforms. When we refer to cookies, this includes other similar technologies such as pixel tags, or web beacons. For more information about these tools and your choices, please refer to our Cookie Policy and Use of Our Services - Information Collected Automatically & Other Information and Your Rights & Choices below.

COPPA Compliance

In accordance with the Federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly solicit, nor will we accept, personally identifiable information from users known to be under thirteen (13) years of age without the consent of their educational institution or the child's parent or guardian. We do, however, use COPPA-compliant, third party services that automatically collect or share certain information and usage data with us to support our internal operations as described under How we use your information and Children Privacy & Student Data below.

If an educational institution with students that are under thirteen (13) years of age uses our Merriam-Webster Unabridged Service, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), your educational institution may provide us with personally identifiable information about its students. We use student information provided by an educational institution to provide this Service to the educational institution and its students consistent with FERPA and this Privacy Notice.. See Children Privacy & Student Data below.

If you believe that we have collected personal information from someone under the age of 13 other than as provided herein, please contact us at: privacy@m-w.com.

How We Collect & Use Your Personal Information

Merriam-Webster protects the identity of visitors to the Services by limiting the collection of personally identifiable information. Personal information provided by you to us will not be posted or published by us and will be shared with third parties only as provided herein. In most cases, the information you provide is limited to first name, last name, email address, city, state, age and phone number. We use this information to provide you with goods and services, including subscription services, publications, and the like. We do not sell personal information to anyone and only share it with third parties who are facilitating the delivery of our Services. You can enjoy many of our Services and their unique features without giving us your personal information.

Subscriptions and Developer Accounts

When you subscribe to a Service or register for a Developer Account, we collect information about you that may include (but not be limited to) your name, email address, city, state, and age. We may also collect a personal mailing address and a phone number. Users may edit their information at any time to change, add or remove certain personal information. We process your personal information to administer and manage your subscription or other-like Service, deliver user benefits to you, inform you of prizes and other benefits or opportunities associated with your Service and respond to your information requests. We also may use this information for legitimate business purposes that help us analyze the demographics of our subscribers and understand our users' needs and interests to better tailor our products and services to meet users' needs and deliver additional services to our users.

Promotions, Word of the Day and other special features

For specific promotions and to access certain features, such as the ‘save your words' feature, we collect information voluntarily submitted by you to us to deliver the requested feature that may include (but not be limited to) your name, email address, city, state, and age. You may edit this information at any time to change, add or remove it from our Services.

Newsletters

You may wish to register for or subscribe to a Merriam-Webster newsletter without becoming a Merriam-Webster subscriber. To receive these newsletters by email, you must provide us with your email address. We use Salesforce Marketing Cloud, a third-party service provider, to deliver requested newsletters, such as Word of the Day, to you on our behalf. When you open an email that contains a newsletter, we gather certain statistics, such as number of emails opened and clicks within a newsletter, using industry-standard technologies, including clear gifs, helping us monitor and improve our newsletters. For more information, please see Marketing Cloud's Privacy Notice. Except for Marketing Cloud, we do not share your voluntarily provided email address with any third party.

You may manage your Merriam-Webster newsletter subscriptions by subscribing or unsubscribing at any time using the link included in the related email. Please note that if you have set your browser to block cookies, this may have an impact on your ability to unsubscribe. If you have any difficulties managing your email or other communication preferences with Merriam-Webster, please contact us at privacy@m-w.com.

Communications from our approved, third-party partners and us

If you choose to provide us with personal information, you also may receive the following types of emails from us:

  • Emails related to subscription-maintenance activities;
  • Emails highlighting new features, content, and usage tips for the Services; and
  • Special offers
    • From us for additional Merriam-Webster and Encyclopædia Britannica (Merriam-Webster's parent company) products and services, and
    • From our approved, third-party partners, if you "opt-in" or give us your permission to send them.

When you provide us with your personal information, you can let us know that you do not wish to receive special offers from Merriam-Webster or its third-party partners. Also, each special offer will have information available to allow you to "opt-out" if you no longer wish to receive special offers. We may use Salesforce Marketing Cloud to deliver emails to you on our behalf. When you open an email from us, we may gather certain statistics, such as number of emails opened and clicks within the email, using industry-standard technologies, including clear gifs, helping us monitor and improve our Services. For more information, please see Marketing Cloud's Privacy Notice. Except for Marketing Cloud, we do not share your voluntarily provided email address with any third party.

Surveys

We may occasionally conduct online surveys. All surveys are voluntary, and you may decline to participate.

Purposes for processing (using) personal data provided directly by you

As explained above, Merriam-Webster processes your data to provide you with the products and services you have requested or purchased from us, including special features, subscriptions, e-newsletters, Word of the Day, and other content. Sometimes we use third-party providers to facilitate the delivery of the services described above, and these third-party providers may be supplied with or have access to your personal information for the sole purpose of providing services to you on our behalf, such as Word of the Day. Also, we may disclose your personal information in special legal circumstances. For instance, such information may be used where it is necessary to protect our copyright or intellectual property rights, or if the law requires us to do so. We also may disclose your personal information with our parent company and other affiliated companies. If we enter into a business transition such as a merger, consolidation, acquisition, sale of assets, joint venture, securities offering, bankruptcy, reorganization, liquidation, or dissolution, your personal information may be among the assets we transfer. You acknowledge and consent that such transfers are permitted by this Privacy Policy, and that any acquirer of ours or that acquirer's affiliates may continue to collect and use your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. To carry out these activities, Merriam-Webster may rely on many legal bases to process your personal data, including where:

  • necessary to perform the contractual obligations in our Terms of Service and to provide the requested Services to you;
  • necessary for a third party's, or our, legitimate interests;
  • necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to defend legal claims;
  • necessary to protect the public interest or vital interest of others;
  • you have expressly made information public; or
  • you have consented to the processing, which may be revoked at any time.

We also use your data for legitimate business purposes that enable us to refine our products and services to better tailor them to your needs, communicate with you about other products and services offered by Merriam-Webster, secure your personal data, or comply with regulatory and legal obligations.

You can update your personal information and change your marketing preferences at any time by sending an email to privacy@m-w.com.

Payment card information

You may choose to purchase goods or services from Merriam-Webster using a payment card. Typically, payment card information is provided directly by users, via the Services, into the PCI/DSS-compliant payment processing service to which the Merriam-Webster subscribes, and Merriam-Webster does not, itself, process or store your card information. We strongly encourage you not to submit this information by email. When Merriam-Webster employees receive payment card information from users by email, fax, phone, or mail, it is entered as instructed and then deleted or destroyed.

Use of Our Services - Information Collected Automatically & Other Information

Like other commercial websites, Merriam-Webster and our authorized partners use cookies (small files transferred from a website to its users' hard drives or browsers for record-keeping purposes), including strictly necessary, performance, functional, and personalization cookies, software logs, and other similar information gathering technologies throughout our Services to collect certain information automatically and store it in log files to monitor the use of the Services, gather non-personal informational about our users, and for a variety of other legitimate business interests and purposes. This information may include (but is not limited to) internet protocol (IP) addresses, mobile device identifiers, the region or general location where your computer or device is accessing the internet, browser type (for example, Firefox or Internet Explorer), operating system (for instance, Windows or Macintosh), your internet provider (for example, Comcast), and other usage information about your use of our Services, including a history of the pages you view.

We also may receive other data about your use of our Services from other sources, including third party websites. This information may include (but is not limited to) information about your activities across unrelated websites and mobile applications, information about the possible relationships between different browsers and devices and information that we receive from our third party service providers, demographic data, information from social media providers, and information about your interests. We may add this information to the data we have already collected through our Services.

We have a legitimate interest in understanding how our users, subscribers, customers and potential customers use our Services. Among other things, this assists us in providing more relevant products and services. Please refer to our Cookie Policy and Your Rights & Choices below for more information.

Links to third-party websites

The Services may contain links to other websites or apps that may offer content, functionality, or applications developed and maintained by third parties. These third-party linked services may use automated means to collect information about you and your use of these features. Merriam-Webster is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these third-party linked services. We urge all users of our Services to follow safe internet practices: Once you leave the Merriam-Webster Services, do not supply personal data to these third-party linked services unless you have verified their security and privacy policies.

Purposes for processing (using) information collected automatically & other information

We may use and disclose information collected automatically through our Services and other information for any purpose, except if it is considered personal data under applicable law. If we combine information collected automatically with the personal data provided by you, we treat the combined information as personal data and use it only in the manner described above. See Purposes for processing (using) personal data provided directly by you above.

On the basis of legitimate interests, we use this information to help us design our Services to better suit our users' needs, to provide and improve our Services, for identification verification, to provide support, for statistical and market research purposes to tailor content to usage patterns, and for analytic purposes through tools such as Google Analytics. We also may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our servers and to administer our Services, analyze trends, track user movements and gather broad demographic information that assists us in identifying user preferences.

  • Relevant content and recommendations

    We use Heap, Inc. to collect and analyze data about how you interact with our Services. Heap does this by collecting data on what our users are doing, including (but not limited to) what web pages you visit, what you click on, where you are located and what browser you are using. Please see Heaps privacy policy for more information.

  • Mobile device identifiers

    When you use a mobile device like a tablet or cell phone to access our Services, we may access and monitor one or more "device identifiers," which are small data files associated with your mobile device that uniquely identify your mobile device. A device identifier may deliver information to a third party partner or us about how you browse and use the Services. Some features of the services may not function properly if use or availability of device identifiers is impaired or disabled.

Your Rights & Choices

Our Cookie Policy more fully describes the cookies, beacons and other similar technology used on the Merriam-Webster Services and provides information on when and how users can accept or reject them.

  • Google Analytics

    You can control the use of your personal data by Google Analytics by visiting the ‘Your privacy controls' section of the Google Privacy Policy located at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US#infochoices. You also can use the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on to disable tracking by Google Analytics. To delete these cookies, please see your browser's privacy settings or follow the above instructions.

How we respond to “Do Not Track” signals

When you visit a website in any browser, you automatically share information with that website, such as your IP address, and other standard PC information. If the website contains content provided by a third-party website (for example a web measurement tools such as a web beacon or scripts), some information about you may be automatically sent to the content provider. This type of arrangement has several benefits, such as allowing you to access third-party content from our Services conveniently. Some internet browsers or other tools include “Do Not Track” (DNT) features that, when turned on, send a signal to websites you visit indicating you do not wish to be tracked across websites over time. However, since no technology standard for DNT signals has been developed or adopted to date, Merriam-Webster does not currently respond to DNT signals.

Children's Privacy & Student Data

A note to minors: If you are under the age of 16, please get permission from your parent/legal guardian or school before using the Services. If we discover that we have collected any personally identifiable information from a child under the age of 16 without the proper consents required by law, we will suspend the associated account and/or remove that information from our database as soon as possible.

Merriam-Webster does not knowingly collect or solicit personally identifiable information from or about children under 16, except as permitted by law or otherwise provided herein. If we discover we have received any information from a child under 16 in violation of this policy, we will delete that information immediately. If you believe Merriam-Webster has any information from or about anyone under 16, please email us at privacy@m-w.com.

  • Student Data

    If you are a student with access to our Services through an Institutional Subscription License Agreement between your school institution and us, your student service data is processed in a way that is COPPA- and FERPA-compliant. As you use this site, you will enter student data or interact with student data that has already been entered. Under the terms of our contracts with school institutions, we agree to act as a “School Official” as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ("FERPA"), meaning that we:

    • Perform an institutional service or function for which the school or district would otherwise use its own employees;
    • Have been determined to meet the criteria set forth in the school's or district's annual notification of FERPA rights for being a School Official with a legitimate educational interest in the education records;
    • Are under the direct control of the school or district with regard to the use and maintenance of education records; and
    • Use education records only for authorized purposes and will not re-disclose from education records to other parties (unless we have specific authorization from the school or district to do so and it is otherwise permitted by FERPA)

However, FERPA requires limitations on disclosure of those records and implementation of appropriate security measures to protect those records. To help your school district comply with FERPA, we have adopted certain practices, and require that educators using this site fulfill certain responsibilities to safeguard student data.

The following statement explains our practices and your responsibilities regarding the student data you enter on this site.

Student Data Security & Confidentiality Statement

  • Purposes of Data Entry

    You control what student data is entered on this site and you retain ownership of the student data at all times. Student data entered on this site should be limited to information that is relevant to the legitimate educational purpose of improving student performance. We will not ask you to enter, and you are instructed not to enter, data about students that is not relevant to this legitimate educational purpose.

    Therefore, only a minimum amount of personally identifiable student data required for the setup of the system is requested. Additional data, not specific to the student, is also required to complete system setup, including the teacher first and last name, class name, grade level, and school name.

  • Use, Disclosure, and Storage

    We will use the student data to provide the services to your school institution. We will not

    keep the student data after you or the school district instructs us to delete it.

    We will only disclose student data to authorized employees or representatives of the school institution, and will not knowingly disclose the student data to any third person without express written authorization. When, at the request of the school institution, we acquire assessment or other information, including personally identifiable student data, from a third party source we treat that information with the same confidentiality and security safeguards as though it were provided directly by the school institution. Additional agreements may be required by the third party to authorize transmission of data to us.

    Your school institution may from time to time request that we provide student data to third parties of its choosing. We will do so with written authorization, which acknowledges that we are providing that data as the requesting institution's agent and that once the data is received by the third party, we no longer has any control over the use or disposition of the data.

    We may also use aggregated data in our research, product development, and marketing. That aggregated, non-personally identifiable data (e.g., summary or statistical data) may be shared with third parties. However, we do not use personally identifiable student data to market any products or services directly to students or their parents.

    In the event that we wish, from time to time, to release aggregated data that identifies a school or school district by name, we will enter into a separate agreement with the institution to authorize release and publication.

    We do not utilize third parties to provide products and do not share your student data with any third parties.

Security of Your Information

Any personally identifiable information collected through this site is stored on limited-access servers. We maintain safeguards to protect these servers and the information they store. Also, to help protect the privacy of data and personally identifiable information you transmit through the use of our Services, we maintain physical, technical and administrative safeguards. We update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis. We strive to restrict access to your personal data to those employees who need to know that information to provide benefits or services to you. In addition, we strive to educate all of our employees about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information.

Data Storage & Retention

We store your personal data on our servers located in the United States. We retain your information for the duration of your business relationship with us and as long as necessary to permit us to use it for the legitimate business purposes that we have communicated to you and comply with applicable law or regulations. For more information on where and how long your personal data is stored, and for more information on your rights of erasure and portability, please contact the Merriam-Webster's data protection officer at dpo@m-w.com.

Consent to Processing & Transfer of Information about You

Merriam-Webster's headquarters are in the United States. Information we collect from you will be processed in the United States and may be stored, transferred to, and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers. These countries may be outside your country of residence, including the United States, and may have different data protection laws than your country.

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), Merriam-Webster collects and transfers personal data out of the EEA only: with your consent; to perform a contract with you or to fulfill a compelling legitimate interest of Merriam-Webster in a manner that does not outweigh your rights and freedoms. Merriam-Webster endeavors to apply suitable safeguards to protect the privacy and security of your personal data and to use it only consistent with your relationship with us and the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

EU Data Subject Rights

The EU GDPR and other countries' privacy laws provide certain rights for data subjects. A good explanation of them (in English) is available on the website of the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office.

If you wish to confirm that Merriam-Webster is processing your personal data, or have access to the personal data Merriam-Webster may have about you, please contact us at dpo@m-w.com and request a copy of our Merriam-Webster Subject Access Request Form. Before processing any such requests, we must first verify that it is a valid and lawful request and that you are in fact the data subject for such request. Please allow at least thirty (30) days for a response.

EU Representative and Data Protection Officer

Merriam-Webster is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts USA. Merriam-Webster has appointed an EU representative and data protection officer for you to contact if you have any questions or concerns about Merriam-Webster's personal data policies or practices.

Our EU representative's contact information is:

Merriam-Webster EU Representative
Unity Wharf, 13 Mill Street
London SE1 2BH UNITED KINGDOM
GDPR_EURep@m-w.com

Our data protection officer's name and contact information are:

M.G. Kim
Merriam-Webster Data Protection Officer
325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200
Chicago, IL USA 60654
dpo@m-w.com

Copyright

All of the content on the Services is copyrighted by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281, Springfield, MA 01102, or its licensors, and it cannot be redistributed or used for commercial purposes. More detailed information about Merriam-Webster's copyrights and trademarks is available on our Copyright Notice page.

Business Transfers

As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy subsidiaries, or business units. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Policy (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that Merriam-Webster or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will be one of the transferred assets and will remain subject to our Privacy Policy.

Acceptance of Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions

By using this site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Merriam-Webster Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this site. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. All amended terms automatically take effect 30 days after they are initially posted on the site. Please check this page periodically for any modifications. Your continued use of any of the Services following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes.

Questions, Comments or Complaints

If you have questions about Merriam-Webster or its products, visit our Contact Us page to find email addresses and other contact information for the appropriate department. To correct, update, or remove personally identifiable information, please email us at dpo@m-w.com. If you have any questions or concerns, please send an email to privacy@m-w.com or at dpo@m-w.com.

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