Look a little closer
A new word does not enter a dictionary because a committee votes to declare it real. Lexicographers collect language people already use and decide whether enough evidence exists to explain that usage reliably.
Editors read books, news, magazines, websites, broadcasts and specialist sources for new terms and new senses of old ones. They preserve each example with its context and source; these records are called citations.
One viral appearance is not enough. Editors look for repeated use by different people across sources, regions or fields, persistence over time, and contexts clear enough to support a definition.
Inclusion does not mean editors approve of a term. A dictionary is closer to a map of usage than a law commanding speech. Informal or offensive words may appear with usage labels when readers need accurate information about them.
Absence does not make a word fake. It may be new, regional or highly specialized, and smaller dictionaries omit rare items for space. Large and compact dictionaries from the same publisher can cover different vocabularies.
Dictionaries follow language rather than leading it. Communities create words and shift meanings; editors gather evidence and update definitions, pronunciation and grammar. The book records an established pattern instead of giving birth to it.
