DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.

Question

This entry comes from Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary. What is Bierce satirizing in this entry?

(1 point)
Responses

people’s tendency to conform to set meanings of words
people’s tendency to conform to set meanings of words

the use of literary devices
the use of literary devices

how figurative language developed
how figurative language developed

the financial goals of people who create dictionaries

Answer 1

Bierce is satirizing people’s tendency to conform to set meanings of words. He presents the dictionary as a restrictive tool that limits the flexibility and creativity of language.