--- title: Merriam-Webster Calls Out Donald Trump for Shithole Comment description: Merriam-Webster's Twitter has made no secret about their feelings towards Donald Trump and his "shithole countries" comment is no exception. canonical: https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-12T17:48:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:49:45.189Z og:title: Merriam-Webster Calls Out Donald Trump for Shithole Comment og:description: The dictionary is throwing some serious shade og:url: https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt643c7db41eda9f92/6988f81a929fad3234bef368/merriam-webster-shades-donald-trump-shithole-countries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Merriam-Webster-Shades-Donald-Trump-shithole-countries og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Merriam-Webster Calls Out Donald Trump for Shithole Comment twitter:description: The dictionary is throwing some serious shade twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt643c7db41eda9f92/6988f81a929fad3234bef368/merriam-webster-shades-donald-trump-shithole-countries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Subtle Way Merriam-Webster Just Called Out Trump's 'Shithole' Remark > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 12, 2018 5:48 PM UTC  Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 12, 2018 5:48 PM UTC The [Merriam-Webster](http://time.com/4959488/donald-trump-fake-news-meaning/) Twitter account has made no secret about the way that they feel about President Donald Trump’s actions, whether it’s his [word usage](http://time.com/4770763/merriam-webster-corrects-donald-trump-tweet/) or his [spelling choices](http://time.com/4799171/merriam-webster-donald-trump-covfefe/). Now, following the controversy that the President is facing after the [_Washington Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.6d5e53c477aa) reported that he called Haiti, El Salvador, and various African countries [“shithole countries”](http://time.com/5100217/mia-love-donald-trump-shithole-remark/) while discussing immigration policy, has earned some shade from the dictionary that the users spreading it feel is well-deserved. After the President made his remark, he was met with criticism from many of his peers, including Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who told [_CBS Miami_](http://miami.cbslocal.com/2018/01/11/florida-governor-members-of-congress-speak-against-trump-profane-comments/) that “the statements of the president are reprehensible, they’re racist, they’re totally incorrect.” It appears that Merriam-Webster could be co-signing Ros-Lehtinen’s statement with their Friday “Word of the Day,” which is, fittingly, reprehensible, which they define as “worth of or deserving reprehension, blame, or censure.” > [](https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/951801160918360064) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/"},"headline":"The Subtle Way Merriam-Webster Just Called Out Trump's 'Shithole' Remark","datePublished":"2018-01-12T17:48:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:49:45.189Z","description":"The dictionary is throwing some serious shade","url":"https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt643c7db41eda9f92/6988f81a929fad3234bef368/merriam-webster-shades-donald-trump-shithole-countries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt643c7db41eda9f92/6988f81a929fad3234bef368/merriam-webster-shades-donald-trump-shithole-countries.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Merriam-Webster-Shades-Donald-Trump-shithole-countries","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5101186/merriam-webster-donald-trump-shithole-countries-word-of-the-day/","name":"The Subtle Way Merriam-Webster Just Called Out Trump's 'Shithole' Remark"}}]}] ```