Merriam-Webster trolls fans of Apple products when defining ‘sheeple’

Merriam-Webster has thrown some shade at tech giant Apple by using consumers of its products as an example when defining the term “sheeple.”

Last week, the American dictionary announced it had added “sheeple” to its library of words.

The dictionary defines “sheeple” as “people who are docile, compliant, or easily influenced: people likened to sheep.”

Merriam-Webster provided two examples of how the derogatory term could be used in a sentence.

“James Nichols, who ran the family farm here, stamped dollar bills with red ink in protest against currency and told his neighbors that they were ‘sheeple’ for obeying authority like livestock,” reads the sentence which was attributed to Sara Rimer and James Bennet.

The second sentence, which was snagged from a 2015 CNN article by Doug Criss, reads: “Apple debuted a battery case for the juice-sucking iPhone—an ungainly lumpy case the sheeple will happily shell out $99 for.”

READ MORE: Merriam-Webster reminds United Airlines what ‘volunteer’ means

Apple did not respond to Global News’ request for comment.

Though the word “sheeple” can be viewed as derogatory, according to Toronto Richard Powers, associate professor at Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, saying the example the dictionary used was “accurate.”

“I think it’s a good example to use the word, let’s face it,” Powers explained to Global News. “Apple had a great ad campaign where it was the Apple guy versus the PC guy … it was excellent as it divided the population, you’re either Apple or you’re PC. They created the, I guess, the cult around Apple. It really took off.”

Powers noted the word is derogatory but it’s a good term.

“It pokes fun at them but it also, you can say it’s derogatory, but it also builds the Apple brand again,” Powers said. “In this particular case, non-Apple users would look at it as derogatory, I’m not sure. I think Apple users would look at it as sort of a place of well, you’d like to be here but you can’t or you’re not. We are a special group.

“It’s almost cult-like,” Powers said.

As for Merriam-Webster’s apparent jab at the tech company, Powers said the dictionary-maker is just trying to be “edgy.”

“The use of a dictionary today, who pulls out a dictionary, you go right to Google,” Powers quipped.

This isn’t the first time Merriam-Webster has taken a pot shot at a major company. In April, the dictionary took aim at United Airlines following the public backlash after a video surfaced showing passenger David Dao being forcibly removed from an overbooked flight in Chicago after he refused to voluntarily to give up his seat.

“’Volunteer’ means “someone who does something without being forced to do it,” Merriam-Webster tweeted on April 10.

The dictionary-maker said searches for the word “volunteer” shot up by 1,900 per cent after the video of the United Airlines incident circulated online.

Merriam-Webster has also thrown shade at Donald Trump in the past.

In December 2016, then president-elect Trump misspelled “unprecedented” in a now-deleted tweet.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act,” the tweet read.

Merriam-Webster took an apparent shot at Trump, tweeting: “Good morning! The #WordOfTheDay is…not ‘unpresidented’. We don’t enter that word. That’s a new one.”