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The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
A landlocked country of southwest-central Asia. Frequently dominated since ancient times by foreign empires, Afghanistan gained full independence only in 1919. The USSR invaded in 1979 but met fierce resistance from Afghan insurgents and withdrew its troops in 1989. The resulting power vacuum led to the rise of the Taliban, which established strict Islamic rule over most of the country. The Taliban was overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2001 that set up a pro-Western government, although armed resistance continued in many parts of the country. Kabul is the capital and the largest city.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.