Last year, Introvert, Dear and I started a petition asking four online dictionaries to change their outdated definition of the word introvert.

Over 1,500 awesome people signed! But we don’t think that’s enough to get the definitions changed, so we’re asking for your help in spreading the word.

Why is this important? Well, these four dictionaries are defining an introvert as a shy person. This is incorrect. According to Susan Cain, author of Quiet, the New York Times Best selling book about introversion, “Shyness is the fear of negative judgment, and introversion is a preference for quiet, minimally stimulating environments.”

A large percentage of introverts are not shy. I’m an introvert, and while I occasionally act shy it doesn’t happen often enough for me to call myself a shy person. Plus, there are plenty of extroverts who are frequently shy.

But it’s not just that, Cambridge Dictionaries Online adds the following to their definition of introvert: “unable to make friends easily.”

Unable? It’s like they’re trying to insult us. Sure, some introverts are unable to make friends easily, but some extroverts are also unable to make friends easily. This definition is inaccurate and not useful.

Knowing the difference between introversion and shyness will help both non-shy introverts and shy extroverts to understand themselves better. Susan Cain’s Ted Talk has been watched over 13 million times, and because of that video, many millions of people have a better understanding of what it means to be an introvert. And yet when these millions of people go to online dictionaries for more clarification, they read an outdated definition. Changing the definition of introvert will help everyone to understand introversion a little better, and it will help the creators of the dictionary to stay current.

If you haven’t already, please sign this petition, and please pass this petition on to anyone you know who realize that being an introvert is not the same as being a shy person.

(The 1,500 signatures number quoted above is a combination of the signatures here, and on Introvert, Dear’s site)
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We’ll be delivering the petition in July, whether we get 2,000 signatures or 200,000. Your signature will make a difference, and you can help us get even more signatures by spreading the word on Twitter or Facebook.

Introvert does not mean shy! I just signed the petition asking dictionaries to change their outdated definition. https://introvertology.com/introvert-definition-petition-update (click to tweet)