Every year the world’s major English dictionaries publish their word of the year for 2025 (WOTY25). It can be an interesting window into the political, social and cultural drivers of our world. Dictionaries from the “Anglosphere” give us insights into how our changing vocabulary reflects our changing lives.
So unsurprisingly the collection of WOTYs from the Macquarie, Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com lexicographers are almost all relating to artificial intelligence and our online world. I wish it were not so but it is not my call.
The Australian Macquarie Dictionary (AU) has chosen “AI slop”; the Merriam-Webster (US) also has “slop”; and the English dictionaries, the Oxford Dictionary has chosen “rage bait”; Cambridge Dictionary went with “parasocial” and the other English dictionary Collins also embraced the tech industry with “vibe coding”. Dictionary.com went with “67” which was as equally unpalatable to me.
Looking a bit further afield the German’s went with “KI-Ära” (i.e. the AI Era).
Here’s a summary of the 2025 words of the year.
Macquarie Dictionary word of the year 2025
The Macquarie Dictionary committee selected AI SLOP as their WOTY25. AI slop is low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors, and not requested by the user.
Their explanation was … “We understand now in 2025 what we mean by slop—AI generated slop, which lacks meaningful content or use. While in recent years we’ve learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop. Slop in this sense will be a robust addition to English for years to come. The question is, are the people ingesting and regurgitating this content soon to be called AI sloppers?”
Mac Dictionary honourable mentions
The committee also had honourable mentions to a few other words.
CLANKER—”an artificial intelligence-driven robot which completes tasks that are normally performed by a human [popularised in the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–14), in which the word was used to describe metallic androids who produced clanking sounds when moving]”
MEDICAL MISOGYNY—entrenched prejudice against females in the context of medical treatment and knowledge, especially in the area of reproductive health.
ATTENTION ECONOMY—an economy in which human attention is treated as a major commodity, especially in advertising.
Merriam Webster word of the year 2025
Merriam-Webster’s editors also chose “slop” as their WOTY25. They define it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
I have to quote their description “Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything. The original sense of the word, in the 1700s, was “soft mud.” In the 1800s it came to mean “food waste” (as in “pig slop”), and then more generally, “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value.”
Merriam Webster honourable mentions
Other words got mentions.
GERRYMANDER—a political word coined in the US for creating advantageous electoral boundaries became heavily searched during 2025, when Republicans and Democrats used redistricting to increase their electoral advantages.
TOUCH GRASS—means “to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions”. It spiked after the 10 September murder of Charlie Kirk, when Republican Utah Governor Spencer Cox urged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community.”
PERFORMATIVE—meaning “made or done for show (as to bolster one’s own image or make a positive impression on others). They used examples of its pervasiveness in “performative politics and activism, performative wokeness and patriotism”.
SIX SEVEN—emerged as the Gen Alpha slang term of 2025—“meaning nothing in particular, and sometimes repeated in a sing-song voice, it tends to delight kids and frustrate almost everyone else”. I stayed away from this during the year because it was incomprehensible to me (a boomer).
Other words they mention were CONCLAVE after the death of Pope Francis in April when the world’s cardinals met to elect his successor; TARIFF after Trump introduced his system to the world in March. They also included LAKE CHARGOGGAGOGGMANCHAUGGAGOGGCHAUBUNAGUNGAMAUGG a body of water in Webster, Massachusetts, famous for its long name, derived from Nipmuc (Algonquian) with one meaning said to be “you fish on your side; I fish on my side; nobody fishes in the middle”. It’s use rose due its inclusion in a spelling game. This I love.
Dictionary.com word of the year 2025
Dictionary.com’s WOTY25 aims to capture “pivotal moments in language and culture”—words that reflect social trends and global events that defined the year. They say that it “reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we’ve changed over the year”. And for these reasons, they chose 67—as mentioned above I have avoided 67 all year because its frustratingly difficult to explain.
Dictionary.com states that it is “meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical’ and has “all the hallmarks of brainrot”, a slang term for “the effects of being perpetually online and consuming large amounts of low-value internet content”. The younger generation are using 67 mostly to annoy teachers and parents it seems.
Dictionary.com shortlist
Dictionary.com also have a shortlist:
AGENTIC—agentic is used to describe AI suggesting the technology possesses a kind of self-directed capability that blurs the boundary between human and machine.
AURA FARMING—refers to the practice of intentionally developing one’s presence or vibe or ” curating one’s image and energy for public admiration”.
BROLIGARCHY (a blend of bro and oligarchy) has become one of 2025’s political neologisms. It captures the public frustration with Trump’s coterie of high-profile tech and business leaders that concentrates power among a small, culturally homogenous elite. It mirrors Putin’s oligarchs.
CLANKER—(see Macquarie above) used to deride AI systems, chatbots, and other nonhuman technologies that we are reluctantly adopting.
KISS CAM—made famous by the couple exposed at the Coldplay concert it is now shorthand for public exposure and digital schadenfreude.
OVERTOURISM—a word from 2010 now more topical as tourist destinations are being overwhelmed with visitors leading to environmental, cultural, and social strains.
TRADWIFE—(short for traditional wife) was originally tied to conservative subcultures that idealise a dutiful, domestic view of femininity but has since broadened into an “aesthetic label” rather than an ideology.
Oxford University Press (OUP) word of the year 2025
OUP’s experts also had 30,000 contributors to the their WOTY25 decision. They noted that 2025’s news cycle had had a focus on concerns about online content regulation and digital wellbeing, that had shifted how we talk about attention, engagement, and ethics online. This led them to rage bait as their WOTY25.
RAGE BAIT—online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.
Rage bait follows clickbait. Clickbait is content that’s main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page; while rage bait has the intent to evoke anger, discord, and polarisation.
OUP runners up
OUP’s runners up included:
AURA FARMING—to cultivate a public image by presenting yourself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.
BIOHACK—an attempt to improve or optimise one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.
Cambridge Dictionary word of the year 2025
The Cambridge Dictionary word of the year 2025 was PARASOCIAL—relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc. AI bots have joined celebrities as objects of “parasocial devotion”.
Increased searches for “parasocial” on the Cambridge Dictionary website were mostly driven by debate on social platforms about the ethics of marketers and influencers who take advantage of parasocial relationships; and media coverage about the potential effect of Meta and OpenAI chatbots on children and mental health.
Lookups of “parasocial” spiked on 30 June 2025, when YouTube streamer IShowSpeed blocked a fan who identified as his “number 1 parasocial”. Parasocial was first coined by two social scientists in 1956 and was spelled para-social. It mostly appeared in academic writing.
Cambridge Dictionary WOTY25 shortlist
Cambridge had two other words on its WOTY25 shortlist.
PSEUDONYMIZATION—a process in which information that relates to a particular person,e.g., a name or email address, is changed to a number or name that has no meaning so that it is impossible to see who the information relates to. It’s central to protecting your personal data in a world where the information is needed but should not impact on your right to privacy.
MEMEIFY—to turn an event, image, person, etc. into a meme (i.e. an idea, joke, image, video, etc. that is spread quickly on the internet). It captures the playful creativity of the internet. Memes blur the lines between information and entertainment.
Cambridge Dictionary WOTY watchlist
Cambridge also has a watch list—new words and meanings that might have enough staying power to be chosen for the dictionary.
GLAZING—the excessive use of praise or flattery, especially by AI chatbots, in a way that seems insincere and artificial. It is sometimes seen as a way of compensating for weak input from an AI.
BIAS—the object of a fan’s “stanning” (i.e. excessive devotion to a singer, band or media star). It is used especially by fans of South Korean music genre K-pop.
VIBEY—describes a place that has a good vibe.
BREATHWORK is a technique that involves the conscious control of your breathing and is intended to produce physical and mental benefits.
DOOM SPENDING—spending money that you do not have in order to make yourself feel better (see doomer).
Collins Dictionary word of the year 2025
Collins English Dictionary also embraced the tech industry with its WOTY25. It picked “vibe coding,” a slang term which it defines as “the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to assist with the writing of computer code”. Or basically, telling a machine what you want rather than painstakingly coding it yourself.”
Collins’ shortlist included other terms mentioned including “CLANKER” a term from Star Wars to describe robots, computers. “BROLIGARCHY” in seeming reference to the male-dominated Silicon Valley elite and their potential to wield political influence.
However, they did have a few new ones.
HENRY—an acronym for High Earner, Not Rich Yet for a person who has not accrued substantial wealth from their high income due to their lifestyle or external financial demands.
TASKMASKING—the act of giving a false impression that one is being productive in the workplace.
COOLCATION—a holiday in a place with a cool climate.
Other words of the year 2025
NOCTOURISM (for nocturnal tourism) is India’s Travel WOTY25 according to one website. Noctourism is indeed a new phenomenon in the travel industry. It represents travellers seeking new experiences after dark such as stargazing, night safaris looking for nocturnal animals, or enjoying cooler evening settings.
The same study identified other trends such as “calmcation” (restorative breaks), “frolleagues” (coworkers who travel together), “eco-scape” (ecoconscious travel) and bucket-list breaks (once-in-a-lifetime journeys).
German word of the year 2025
The Association for the German Language (GfdS) selected “KI-ÄRA” (AI Era) as its WOTY25 reflecting the international impact of artificial intelligence. It signifies the start of a new era with AI impacting jobs, creativity, and daily life.
The second GfdS WOTY was the English word “deal”. It represents the way it is used by President Donald Trump. Turning “uses the word for trade, customs and international agreements,” explains GfdS boss Andrea Ewels. “With associations ranging from casualness to drug-related crime, he stands for a policy that unapologetically puts its own economic interests first, ignoring the concerns of others and their right to territorial integrity, cultural self-determination, and prosperity,” the GfdS wrote in its announcement.
Another GfdS runner up is KLIMAMÜDE—climate change fatigue i.e. people have too many worries to prioritise climate worries.
AI, AI, AI
I am not enjoying the Word of the Year quite as much as I used to. As we invent words that signal our obsession with AI and the internet, we also reveal how much we are shrinking into an introverted version of the world, accessed largely through a mobile device. Many dictionaries now choose their WOTY based on search behaviour.
I find myself wishing for words that carry humour and irony beyond my computer screen. I want fewer terms coined to diagnose our relationship with screens, algorithms, and platforms, and more that relate to our environment, our relationships, and the cultural, social, and political events that shape our lives. Language works best when it shows how people see the world at more than one level.
It is paradoxical that dictionaries attempt to document linguistic creativity while recording only what occurs online. The real subtleties of language lie in how humans engage with one another and with the world—indirectly, playfully, sometimes incorrectly. That kind of language does not belong solely to social media, maybe the kids are right with 67.