# How do they decide which words to illustrate in the dicitonary?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-decide-which-words-to-illustrate-in-the-dicitonary/33248>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 14, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-decide-which-words-to-illustrate-in-the-dicitonary/33248 "2000-09-14T23:08:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amadeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Amadeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amadeus)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-decide-which-words-to-illustrate-in-the-dicitonary/33248/1 "2000-09-14T23:08:33Z")

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Just wondering…

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-decide-which-words-to-illustrate-in-the-dicitonary/33248/2 "2000-09-14T23:23:19Z")

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WAGs

1. The word needs a photo to make sense, e.g. akimbo, or animals and plants.

2. The publisher has a public domain photo handy

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**Author:** ![sdimbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdimbert/32/20204_2.png) [@sdimbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sdimbert)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-decide-which-words-to-illustrate-in-the-dicitonary/33248/3 "2000-09-14T23:47:08Z")

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> [@](#):
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> How do they decide which words to illustrate in the dicitonary?

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Where is that thread on the definition of irony?  
😃