Arab-American group objects to latest Webster’s Dictionary’s anti-Semitism listing

(RNS) The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has raised objections to the definition of “anti-Semitism” in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, published in 2002.

The second and third definitions of the term upset the ADC. The second reads, “opposition to Zionism,” and the third says, “sympathy for the opponents of Israel.”

In addition to issuing a press release correcting the definition, the ADC asked Merriam-Webster to add an errata sheet to current copies of the 2002 edition, edit future editions of the dictionary to remove the second and third definitions of the term and fund a symposium to discuss the differences between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

In a brief letter of reply, Stephen J. Perrault, Merriam-Webster’s senior editor, wrote that the matter would be resolved when the fourth edition of the dictionary is published, “which should be within the next 10 years.”