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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.
Chinese Communist leader and theorist. A founder of the Chinese Communist Party (1921), he commanded troops in the Chinese Civil War (1927-1949) and proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949. As party chairman and the country's first head of state (1949-1959), he initiated sweeping but misguided economic, agricultural, and industrial reforms that resulted in widespread starvation. He continued as party chairman after 1959 and was a leading figure in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969). In the 1970s he consolidated his political power and established ties with the West.
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.