United Airlines was, unsurprisingly, on the receiving end of considerable criticism yesterday after footage emerged which showed a passenger being forcibly removed from one of its aircrafts.

Bloodied and traumatised after being dragged through the plane's narrow aisle, the individual at the centre of the shocking footage repeatedly told fellow passengers he 'wanted to go home'.

As the footage went viral, United Airlines responded to the scandal, but their misuse of the word 'volunteer' did not escape the attention of the folk behind Merriam-Webster dictionary who promptly shared their statement and highlighted the error.

'Volunteer' means “someone who does something without being forced to do it.” https://t.co/qNAcMyplhZ

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 11, 2017

"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologise for the overbook situation," read the statement,

Taking issue with the reply, Merriam-Webster's Twitter account hit back, saying: "Volunteer' means “someone who does something without being forced to do it.”

Following the airline's feeble justification for the incident, the dictionary continued to share their perspective on the response on their website.

"Some of the interest in the definition of volunteer may come from the wording of the statement from United, since a person who did not volunteer to leave was then described as refusing 'to leave the aircraft voluntarily' — and subsequently being forced to do it," they added.

It is understood that searches for the definition of the word 'volunteer' spiked by a staggering 1,900 per cent following the release of the United Airlines statement.