Inspired By The Spelling Bee Comes The ?Define-a-Thon?

Now that spelling bees have been turned into a hit Broadway show and crossword puzzles into a movie, the publishers of the American Heritage dictionary are hoping to create a cultural moment with a competitive game about word definitions.

Dictionary publishers typically send out a press release highlighting new entries — blogosphere, instant messaging and shout-out are recent examples —but struggle to find other ways to get attention.

I think everyone publicizes new words, so I want to go beyond that, said Taryn Roeder, 32, who as Houghton Mifflins assistant director of publicity promotes the American Heritage Dictionaries reference line.

So this year Houghton Mifflin created — and trademarked — the Define-a-Thon, which is modeled after a spelling bee but instead asks contestants to match words to definitions (and gives them a helpful list of words to choose from). The publisher has dispatched Steve Kleinedler, supervising editor at American Heritage, to hold events across the country.

On a recent Thursday night in Cambridge, Mass., about 225 people filed into the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square to watch a Define-a-Thon. After two heats of 20 contestants each, the finalists were Brandy Jones, a community design planner who picked the correct word for definitions like the ringing or sounding of bells (tintinnabulation), and Katherine Bryant, a science textbook editor, whose definitions included head-scratchers like the right to use and enjoy someone elses property without harming it (usufruct).

In the final round, Ms. Bryant, a crossword enthusiast, was victorious. It was fun, she said by telephone from Boston. Kind of geeky, but fun.

For Mr. Kleinedler, who has a tattoo of the phonetic vowel chart on his back, it is not just about fun; it is about the business of making dictionaries seem sexy. Part of his job is to debunk the notion that lexicographers are gray-haired people hunched over a drafting table who never see the light of day, he said.

To propagate the Define-a-Thon, Houghton Mifflin is circulating a 70-page event planning kit that includes questions, rules and a certificate that can be presented to winners. In the fall, the publisher will release two books, Define-a-Thon for the High School Graduate and Define-a-Thon for the High School Freshman, at $5.95 each.

It will not be the first time that the companys promotion for one book has led to the creation of another. In 2002, when the American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, was released, the publicity department asked editors for 100 words every adult should know, and printed the list — which included words like inculcate and evanescent — on posters that it distributed to book shows, stores and schools.

The posters were so popular that they spawned a book, 100 Words Every High School Student Should Know, which added definitions, word histories and quotations.

First published in 2003, the original 100 Words book has sold 94,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. Houghton Mifflin has subsequently released five related titles, including 100 Words Every Word Lover Should Know (like ephemeral, and fecundity) and 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart (like ennui and lurid), which have collectively sold another 117,000 copies and have landed Mr. Kleinedler, the editor, on hundreds of radio broadcasts, he said.

Everyone in America loves a list, said Mr. Kleinedler. Doing publicity for those books has been like rolling off a log. Radio hosts love talking about them, and its a really good hook, because its easy to segue to talking about the dictionary.

While publishers traditionally promote books in advance of their publication dates and to a lesser degree when they are released in paperback, dictionary publishers face the quandary of releasing new editions as infrequently as once a decade. Although the fourth edition of the American Heritage dictionary was published five years ago, the Define-a-Thon promotion is linked to the release of a 2007 update, which features some new words.

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