Word Of The Year

Merriam-Webster names 'Polarisation' as its 2024 word of the year

The results of the 2024 US presidential election rattled the country and sent shockwaves across the world or were cause for celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is polarisation? Polarisation means division, but it's a very specific kind of division, said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday's announcement. Polarisation means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the centre. The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was an existential threat to the nation. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters were very or somewhat concerned that Donald Trump's views but not Harris' were too extreme, while about 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same way about Harris but not Trump. The Merriam-Webster

What is 'brain rot'? Oxford University names it 2024 word of the year

Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year - 'brain rot', highlights growing concerns over the mental impact of endless social media scrolling and the consumption of low-quality content

'Demure' becomes Dictionary.com's 2024 Word of the Year, fueled by TikTok

TikTok's viral phrase 'so demure, so mindful' earns 'demure' the title of Dictionary.com's 2024 Word of the Year, following a 1,200% surge in digital mentions

Zeitgeist in a word: Oxford's 2024 shortlist reflects a world in flux

As we barrel towards a generative AI-dominated future, the art of picking a word of the year will only get trickier

Why 'manifest' is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2024?

Manifesting - the practice of visualising desired outcomes - was credited by celebrities like Dua Lipa, Simone Biles, and Ollie Watkins for their success in 2024

How 'brat' became 2024's word of the year, thanks to Charli XCX

The term 'brat's' popularity surged as Collins' lexicographers noticed its growing usage across social platforms

Rizz, from charisma, crowned Word of the Year by Oxford University Press

Etymologically, the term is believed to be a shortened form of the word "charisma", taken from the middle part of the word, which is an unusual word formation pattern

Situationship, beige flag: Shortlisted words for Oxford word of year

'Situationship', 'swiftie', 'beige flag' and 'de-influencing' are among the eight words on the shortlist for Oxford Word of the Year for 2023, officials said on Wednesday. According to officials at the Oxford University Press (OUP), the eight words will be opened up to head-to-head voting by the public with one winner emerging from each of those competitions, narrowing the field down to just four finalists. Experts will then perform one last detailed analysis of the corpus data, taking into account the votes and public commentary on the finalists, and name the definitive word of the year for 2023. The shortlist of eight words has been selected by the language experts at OUP. They have examined the 19-billion-word corpus of spoken and written language data for words or expressions that have seen a spike in usage or that have been recently added to the language (neologisms), officials said. While 'situationship' is a term used for a romantic or sexual relationship that is not consid

'Authentic' to 'hallucinate': Words of the Year 2023 are centred around AI

Prominent dictionaries have taken note of the technology that is the talk of the town

Why and how Collins Dictionary chose 'AI' as the word of the year for 2023

AI was chosen from a list of new terms that the publisher said reflect 'our ever-evolving language and the concerns of those who use it'

'Digital nomad', 'pinkwashing' and 'rage-farming' debut on Dictionary.com

Trauma dumping, rage farming, and queerbaiting, which are typically used to describe harmful or toxic behavior, all made their debut

Dictionary.com explains why 'woman' was the most searched word of the year

The report also highlighted how searches for the word woman spiked significantly on Dictionary.com, multiple times in relation to separate high-profile events

For Oxford English Dictionary, the word of the year goes full goblin mode

With the slang term beating out 'metaverse' and '#IStandWith,' has the publisher behind the Oxford English Dictionary lost it like the rest of us?

Oxford Dictionaries names 'goblin mode' word of the year via online vote

Asked to sum up 2022 in a word, the public has chosen a phrase. Oxford Dictionaries said Monday that goblin mode has been selected by online vote as its word of the year. It defines the term as a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations. First seen on Twitter in 2009, goblin mode gained popularity in 2022 as people around the world emerged uncertainly from pandemic lockdowns. Given the year we've just experienced, goblin mode' resonates with all of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, said Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl. The word of the year is intended to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past twelve months. For the first time this year's winning phrase was chosen by public vote, from among three finalists selected by Oxford Languages lexicographers: goblin mode, metaverse and the hashtag IStandWith. Despite being relatively un

Here's how Oxford zeroes in on its word of the year as people vote for 2022

As OUP leaves the word of the year to a people's vote, here's how the process works

In a first, people to vote to choose Oxford Word of the Year 2022

For the first time, people from across the world will vote to choose the Oxford Word of the Year 2022, Oxford Languages has announced. A team of expert lexicographers have narrowed down a longlist of worthy contestants to a final choice of three words -- metaverse, #IStandWith, and goblin mode. The voting, which started on November 21, will close on December 2. Last year 'Vax' was adjudged word of the year. "2022 has been a year defined by opening back up. However, although we have finally been able to physically reunite and come together again, our world somehow feels more divided than ever," Oxford Languages said. "In recognition of this shift, we wanted to open up the final step of our Word of the Year selection process to the true arbiters of language: people around the world... For the first time in its history, the 2022 Word of the Year will be chosen by the public," a statement said. The three words are each relevant to the year in a different way. In 'metaverse', there i

'Allyship', added last month, is Dictionary.com's word of the year for 2021

Allyship, an old noun made new again, is Dictionary.com's word of the year.

Collins Dictionary picks NFT as word of the year after rise in its usage

The Oxford English Dictionary's publisher, meanwhile, recently chose vax as its word of the year

'Pandemic' chosen as the top word of 2020 by Merriam-Webster dictionary

If you were to choose a word that rose above most in 2020, which word would it be? Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster announced pandemic as its 2020 word of the year

With 70% online search rise, 'Feminism' is Merriam-Webster's word of 2017

Feminism spiked following news coverage of the Women's March on Washington, DC in January and other related marches held around the US and internationally.