No, Dave, it is not an abridged dictionary, it's a huge, encyclopedic dictionary. It does contain "conflation", but not "conflate". Nonetheless, your point is a valid one. Any word that is in use clearly is a word...even if it's not in some dictionary.

I dislike conflate simply because I think people have been misusing it on Mudcat and doing that way too often...but that's just my own particular opinion.

Now, here's a word that is not in the dictionary, but it's a real world, because I am about to use it.

Diddlyboob.

Amos, you are a diddlyboob! ;-)

An erudite diddlyboob, to be sure....a diddlyboob who speaks and writes brilliantly, but a diddlyboob nonetheless.

I regret to say that I still don't know what "bloviate" means, so I shall have to look it up. But you accused me of being lazy!!!!

Well.....yeah....

I am proud of my laziness, sir. The only being around here that is demonstrably lazier than me is my dog, and he has attained absolute mastery of the art, due to the fact that he doesn't need to earn a living. I hope to one day be in such an exalted position myself, at which point I shall achieve a degree of laziness which at present is still beyond reach for me. ;-)