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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.
An island country in the Caribbean Sea south of Florida. Originally settled by Arawak Indians, it was claimed for Spain by Columbus in 1492 and was colonized beginning in 1511. Spain relinquished its control of Cuba in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War, and following a three-year occupation by US forces, the island became self-governing in 1902. Fulgencio Batista dominated the government of Cuba from 1933 until 1959, when a revolution led by Fidel Castro established a Marxist-Leninist state. Havana 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.