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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 country of northwest South America with coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Previously inhabited by the Chibchas, it was settled by the Spanish in 1530s and formed the nucleus of the viceroyalty of New Granada after 1739. The area gained its independence from Spain in 1820 under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, but the modern state of Colombia did not emerge until after Venezuela and Ecuador (1830) and later Panama (1903) had become separate nations. Bogotá 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.