Articles from Merriam-Webster Inc.

Springfield, MA, Dec. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Merriam-Webster announced the 2025 Word of the Year: slop.Slop is defined as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”Throughout 2025, lookup volume of slop on Merriam-Webster.com reflected a flood of slop into everyday life, including absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real… and lots of talking cats.“All that stuff was dumped on our screens,” says Greg Barlow, President of Merriam-Webster, “and the Word of the Year captured it in just four letters. The English language came through again.”In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking. According to Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster Editor at Large, “it’s almost like the word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t seem too superintelligent. “Other words in Merriam-Webster’s lookup data revealed experiences and ideas that shaped the year:

Lexicography Aficionados Exult

Springfield, MA, Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Merriam-Webster announced its 2024 Word of the Year: polarization. Lookup volume of polarization on Merriam-Webster.com throughout 2024 reflected the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world. Polarization is defined 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.”“Polarization was widely used to describe America in 2024,” says Merriam-Webster President Greg Barlow. “Ironically, it’s a concept that is shared by both sides of the political divide.”Other words also stood out in the dictionary’s 2024 data, revealing experiences and ideas that shaped the year:

Including beach read, street corn, touch grass, and nepo baby

Including doggo, cromulent, chef’s kiss, UAP, and a little zhuzh

Springfield, MA, Nov. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Merriam-Webster announced its Word of the Year: authentic, the term for something people are thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever.A high-volume lookup most years, authentic saw a substantial increase in 2023, driven by stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media.Authentic has a number of meanings including “not false or imitation,” a synonym of real and actual; and also “true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.” Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate—two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary.“The rise of AI helped drive interest in the word,” says Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s Editor at Large. “The line between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ has become increasingly blurred. As a result, in social media and marketing, authentic has become the gold standard for building trust—and authenticity, ironically, has become a performance.”Other words also stood out in the dictionary’s 2023 data, including:

Springfield, MA, Nov. 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Merriam-Webster announced its Word of the Year: gaslighting, “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.”