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Michael Shea wrote:
"To answer your question, it looks like this dictionary allows both. Though typically these are listed in most common usage first, so go with parameterization."
Then Dick Margulis wrote:
". . .Merriam-Webster states in the frontmatter to all of their dictionaries that you cannot draw this conclusion when alternate spellings are separated by _or_. If there is a main entry followed by the word _also_ and then another spelling, the first spelling is more common."
Dick:
I hadn't realized variant spellings were categorized by the dictionary's use of "or" and "also." Thanks to you, I learned something today. Now maybe I'm being dense but my government-issue Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary front matter says "or" is used to indicate "the two forms are in almost equally frequent use. . ." while the variant following "also" indicates the less preferred variant "when there is a distinct preference for one variant."
Martha
<delurking and feeling like a sitting canard>
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