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Merriam-Webster declares "science" the publisher's word of the year.

Though they both start with the same letter, that's about all Merriam-Webster's word of the year has in common with its counterpart from Oxford University Press. The renowned British publishing company and the notable American dictionary publisher have divergent views on not only the word of the year, but the way in which it should be determined.

Oxford declared "selfie" the word of 2013 in November. On Tuesday Merriam-Webster announced "science" to be its word of the year.

[READ: Oxford Dictionary Names "Selfie" as Word of the Year]

Merriam-Webster determined its word primarily based on a 176 percent increase for lookups on its website since 2012. In comparison, Oxford determined its word of the year based on the overall tracking of the usage of words.

"The more we thought about it, the righter it seemed in that it does lurk behind a lot of big stories that we as a society are grappling with, whether it's climate change or environmental regulation or what's in our textbooks," John Morse, president of Merriam-Webster, told the Associated Press.

Morse said that Merriam-Webster's word of the year was evident of the underlying tone of scientific discovery that has permeated society.

[ALSO: Congressman Steve King Strives to Make English the Official Language of U.S.]

Morse also contributed the uptick of the word "science" to Malcolm Gladwell's October release of the book "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants."

Gladwell, who has a reputation of mainstreaming scientific thought, writes about the challenges that nature imposes. Some criticize Gladwell's book as a misrepresentation of science, Time reports.

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'Science' Faces Off With 'Selfie' as Word of the Year