New words – 4 March 2019

 

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voiceprint noun [C]
/ˈvɔɪs.prɪnt/
the unique characteristics of a person’s voice, used as a form of identification

The companies behind this technology say that a voiceprint includes more than 100 unique physical and behavioural characteristics of each individual, such as length of the vocal tract, nasal passage, pitch, accent and so on. They claim it is as unique to an individual as a fingerprint, and that their systems even recognise people if they have a cold or sore throat.
[The Guardian, 22 September 2018]

cyberhoarding noun [U]
UK /ˈsaɪ.bəhɔː.dɪŋ/ US /ˈsaɪ.bɚhɔːr.dɪŋ/
a psychological condition where someone finds it impossible to delete unwanted or old data from their computer or other device

You might laugh, but cyberhoarding has become a problem for me and many others. It is one of several new mental health problems that researchers believe is being fuelled by the internet and social media. A new team, named the European Problematic Use of the Internet Research Network, this week said it would examine the condition to measure its long-term impact on web users.
[The Telegraph, 10 October 2018]

predictalitics noun [U]
UK /prɪ.dɪk.tə.ˈlɪt.ɪks/ US /prɪ.dɪk.tə.ˈlɪt̬.ɪks/
a process in which a computer examines all the data available on someone and uses it to predict what diseases they are at risk of

As part of the NHS’s 100,000 Genome Project volunteers are being proactively screened to build up one of the largest DNA databases in the world, which researchers and clinicians will be able to use to fine tune this ‘predictalitics’ technique.
[The Telegraph, 7 May 2018]

About new words

2 thoughts on “New words – 4 March 2019

  1. Please can you add a category to your voting options-something along the lines of ‘I like this word and would support its usage’ or ‘this word expresses a current idea/trend which I think is here to stay’. The ‘let’s wait and see’ option doesn’t really offer us the chance to express our enjoyment of the novelty of new words – and isn’t that the most interesting thing about neologisms?

  2. Robert Richter

    It would help if you put a punctuation mark, such as a dash, after the initial word that is the subject of the definition.

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