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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.
The largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It was held by Spain, Germany, and Japan before being captured by US troops in July 1944 during World War II. It was part of the US Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947 to 1978 and now serves as the capital of the Northern Marianas.
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.