I've always understood 'disinterested' to mean impartial and 'uninterested' to mean not interested. Using 'disinterested' to mean not interested is wrong based on my experience and various sources online.
However, in the (Merriam Webster dictionary), both definitions are listed. The same is true in the Lexico UK dictionary. Do dictionaries list the "wrong" definitions of a word if those definitions are used as such in common practice?
Do dictionaries list the "wrong" definitions of a word if those definitions are used as such in common practice?
Typically, yes. Some will note that the usage is frowned upon or offer some other sort of additional detail. There is an increasing tendency for dictionaries to adopt a descriptivist approach rather than prescriptivist, that is, describing how words are actually used rather than prescribing how they should be used, because otherwise a user who hasn't before encountered disinterested, for example, who finds it used by someone in the nontraditional sense of "not interested," and who seeks enlightenment by looking in the dictionary, is likely to end up confused, or, worse still, to misconstrue the author's meaning without realizing that there is reason for doubt.
