Esteemed dictionaries have revealed their top words of the year for 2024.
Social media trends and a tense political climate seemed to have a big impact on dictionary searches and word selections.
Here are the top words of the year:
Polarization
Merriam-Webster has identified their word of the year as: Polarization. The dictionary defines polarization as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
Hmm.. we wonder what major event this year could have prompted that word.
Polarization, and the verb polarize, date back to the early 1800s, when they first described light waves. That physical meaning of polarize—“to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern”—led to the political and cultural meaning that helps define the world today.
The polar in polarization is from Latin polaris, which describes the Earth’s poles. Polaris is also a name for the North Star.
Other words also stood out in this dictionary’s 2024 data searches, some based on current events. These include:
- Totality
- Demure
- Fortnight
- Pander
- Resonate
- Allision
- Weird
- Cognitive
- Democracy
Demure
Dictionary.com has defined the 2024 Word of the Year as: Demure. The word experienced a sharp 1200% increase in usage in digital web media alone. This is mainly attributed to TikToker Jools Lebron’s popularization of the phrase “very demure, very mindful” in a series of videos posted to the platform.
Though the term demure has traditionally been used to describe those who are reserved, quiet, or modest, a new usage has spread through social media — one used to describe refined and sophisticated appearance or behavior in various contexts, such as at work or on a plane.
Here are other words that made Dictionary.com’s 2024 Word of the Year short list that include:
- brainrot
- brat
- extreme weather
- Midwest nice
- weird
Manifest
The Cambridge Dictionary picked “manifest” as their word of the year. The verb means to use methods such as visualization (= picturing something in your mind) and affirmation (= repeating positive phrases) to help you imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.
Manifest was looked up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, making it one of the most viewed words of 2024.
Brain Rot
The Oxford Dictionary has chosen the slang term of “brain rot” as its word of the year following a public vote in which more than 37,000 people had their say.
‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.
Now you’ve added some words to your personal lexicon. We hope you have a very demure New Year with limited brain rot and you’re able to manifest without polarization.
