Every year some of the most prominent global dictionaries and media publications select a word of the year. The winning words are about much more than linguists and lexicographers having a field day with analysing data on language ─they usually reflect important trends, themes, cultural movements and events, providing insight into humanity and the state of the world.
This year’s words all relate to the digital aspects of our everyday lives. Interestingly, they all refer to some of the downsides and dangers of the online world and the evolution of AI.
Oxford Dictionary: Rage bait
The dictionary editors define rage bait as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive” with the aim of increasing traffic to or engagement with websites and social media accounts. According to the dictionary’s language data, the use of rage bait has increased threefold in the last 12 months – against a background of unrests fuelled by social media, debates about online content regulation and concerns over users’ digital wellbeing. President of Oxford Languages Casper Grathwohl stated that the existence of rage bait indicates an increasing awareness of the manipulation tactics used online: “Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.”
Another concept on Oxford Dictionary’s shortlist that also speaks to the nature of online engagement and manipulation is aura farming. It’s described as “the cultivation of an impressive, attractive or charismatic persona or public image by behaving or presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness, or mystique”. The term first appeared in 2023 and surged in popularity in 2025.
Cambridge Dictionary: Parasocial
Driven by the feelings of intimacy fans have towards their favourite celebrities and the rise of personalised AI chatbots as companions/friends or even romantic partners, Cambridge Dictionary announced parasocial as its word of the year. It is used to describe the connection people have with a famous person they don’t know or AI. Humans’ infatuation with celebrities is of course nothing new. In a 2025 context, it is the inclusion of one-sided relationships with chatbots and the impact of these relationships on mental health that make parasocial so topical. The word para-social was first coined by two social scientists in 1956 and it was initially mostly used in academic writing.
The Economist and the Macquarie Dictionary: Slop and AI slop
According to The Economist, slop represents the experience of living in 2025. The word itself is naturally not new (its first citation is in the 15th century); nevertheless, since the release of generative AI the meaning has evolved to refer to the vast amounts of online drivel and fake content. Its selection as word of the year was inspired by OpenAI’s release of the generative AI platform called Sora that creates videos based on a prompt.
The Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English’s choice reflects the same sentiment. The more specific term of AI slop is defined as “low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors and not requested by the user”. It refers to the creation of deepfakes (images and videos) with the assistance of AI that often go viral.
Collins Dictionary: Vibe coding
Collins Dictionary’s word of the year also speaks to the ever-growing prevalence of AI, zooming in on the tech industry. Its choice is vibe coding, which refers to turning natural language into computer code: software developers simply describe what they want and AI does the heavy lifting and writes the code. Although vibe coding makes it possible for more people to code, critique against it include bypassing foundational coding knowledge and potential security risks.
Dictionary.com: 67
Usage of 67 (pronounced six-seven) in the general media increased dramatically from August this year. Its origin is thought to be Skrilla’s rap song “Doot Doot (6 7)”. What’s interesting about this word is that it doesn’t have a clear, agreed meaning. According to Dictionary.com, “Some say it means so-so, or maybe this, maybe that, especially when paired with its signature hand gesture where both palms face up and move alternately up and down.”
It’s ultimately youth slang: Gen Alpha and younger teens love to use it to reply to just about any question from their parents or teachers. On a deeper level, the non-sensical 67 is a revealing example of the sensory numbing effect of social media and the impact on language, with a new word gaining global popularity without having a clear definition or sensible meaning.
New technology and digital tools are generally met with excitement and anticipation. As the words of 2025 reveal, the current rate and nature of technological evolution and digital domination is triggering a turnaround in sentiment. Distrust, uncertainty and indifference ─ even paranoia ─are becoming more common. Will we be able to restore the online world to one of quality, authenticity and control? Only time will tell.
Sources
https://corp.oup.com/word-of-the-year/#2025-winner
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/editorial/word-of-the-year
https://theconversation.com/2025s-words-of-the-year-reflect-a-year-of-digital-disillusionment-270769
https://time.com/7334730/word-of-the-year-2025-cambridge-collins-dictionary-oxford-merriam
