Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year are words of the year lists published annually by the American dictionary-publishing company Merriam-Webster, Inc. The lists feature ten words from the English language. These word lists started in 2003 and have been published at the end of each year.
The Words of the Year usually reflect events that happened during the years the lists were published. For example, the Word of the Year for 2005, 'integrity', showed that the general public had an immense interest in defining this word amid ethics scandals in the United States government, corporations, and sports. The Word of the Year for 2004, 'blog', was looked up on the Online Dictionary the most as blogs began to influence mainstream media. In 2006, Merriam-Webster received a lot of publicity as 'truthiness', a word coined by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report, topped the list.
Selection process When the Word of the Year was started in 2003, Merriam-Webster determined which words would appear on the list by analyzing page hits and popular searches to its website. For example, the 2003 and 2004 lists were determined by online hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus and to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com. In 2006 and 2007, Merriam-Webster changed this practice, and the list was determined by an online poll among words that were suggested by visitors to the site. Visitors were requested to vote for one entry out of a list of twenty words and phrases. The list consisted of the words and phrases that were frequently looked up on the site and those that were submitted by many readers. From 2008 onwards, however, user submissions have not been a deciding factor, and the list has been composed only of the words which were looked up most frequently that year. Merriam-Webster said that the reason for the change was that otherwise ordinary words were receiving so many hits that their significance could not be ignored.
Words of the Year Year Word Definition 2003 democracy (noun) State governed by the people or by officials elected by the people. 2004 blog (noun) Online journal where the writer presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. 2005 integrity (noun) Adherence to moral or ethic principles; incorruptibility. 2006 truthiness (noun) Truth coming from the gut, not books; preferring to believe what you wish to believe, rather than what is known to be true. 2007 w00t (interjection) Expressing joy. 2008 bailout (noun) A rescue from financial distress. 2009 admonish (verb) to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner. 2010 austerity (noun) Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline. 2011 pragmatic(adjective) Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory. 2012 socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political philosophies that support social equality, collective decision-making, distribution of income based on contribution and public ownership of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists. capitalism (noun) A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state. 2013 science (noun) Knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation. 2014 culture (noun) The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. 2015 -ism (suffix) A suffix that forms abstract nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine. 2016 surreal (adjective) Marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream. 2017 feminism (noun) The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. 2018 justice (noun) The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments. 2019 they (pronoun) Used to refer to a single person whose gender is intentionally not revealed, or —Used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary. 2020 pandemic (noun) An outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population. 2021 vaccine (noun) A preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease. 2022 gaslighting (noun) A psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator 2023 authentic (adjective) Not false or imitation: real, actual 2024 polarization (noun) 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 2025 slop (noun) Digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence
Full list by year 2003 Rank Word Definition democracy (noun) State governed by the people or by officials elected by the people. quagmire (noun) Soft, muddy land; a predicament quarantine (noun) Period of time in which a person, animal, or ship that could possibly be carrying infection is kept apart; a period of 40 days. matrix (noun) Something from which something else originates, develops, or takes form; a mold or die; an electroplated impression of a phonograph record used to make duplicate records. (noun in biology) The substance in which tissue cells are embedded. (noun in math) The arrangement of a set of quantities in rows and columns. (noun in geology) Fine-grained rock in which fossils, crystals, or gems are embedded. marriage (noun) Legally uniting two people as partners; wedlock; a close union or a wedding. slog (verb) To hit hard or beat heavily; to toil; walk or plod slowly. (noun) Laborious work; long, tiring walk or march; a heavy blow. gubernatorial (adjective) Of or relating to a governor. plagiarism (noun) The act of stealing from another author's works. outage (noun) Something lost after delivery or storage; temporary suspension of an operation, especially electric power. batten (verb) To grow fat, to feed greedily, or to live in luxury at the expense of others; to bolster or fasten with battens. (noun) A strip fixed to something to hold it firm.
John Morse, president of Merriam-Webster, pointed out that "the most frequently looked up words are not the newest words, not the latest high-tech terms, not the cool new slang." Instead, these top ten words correlated to breaking news stories and world events in 2003. The top word democracy correlated to the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, quarantine to a SARS epidemic, and matrix to the film The Matrix Revolutions.
2004 Rank Word Definition blog (noun) Online journal where the writer presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs.incumbent (noun) A person that possesses an ecclesiastical benefice or other office. (adjective) Lying on; resting on a person, obligatory. electoral (adjective) Pertaining to electors or elections; consisting of electors.insurgent (noun) A person who rebels or rises against authority. (adjective) Rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority. hurricane (noun) Violent, tropical cyclone of the western North Atlantic with wind speeds at or above ; most severe, intense storm; anything that suggests a violent storm. cicada (noun) An insect of the family Cicadidae. peloton (noun) The main group of riders in a bicycle race. partisan (noun) A supporter of a cause, person, or group, especially a supporter with biased allegiance; a member of a military group harassing an enemy, especially a group engaged in guerrilla warfare against an occupying army. sovereignty (noun) Government free from external control; royal authority; a state's authority to govern another state. defenestration (noun) The act of throwing a thing or person out a window.
In 2004, blogs were becoming highly popular and began to influence mainstream media. During the twelve-month period that decides the word of the year, the term blog had the most requests for a definition or explanation, so a new entry was placed in Merriam-Webster's printed dictionary for 2005. The other words on this list, such as incumbent, electoral, and partisan, were associated with major news events, such as the United States presidential election of 2004 or natural disasters that hit the US.
2005 Rank Word Definition integrity (noun) Adherence to moral or ethic principles; incorruptibility. refugee (noun) One who flees for protection from danger or distress; one who flees to another country or place for safety. contempt (noun) Willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge or legislative body. filibuster (noun) Using delaying tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action, especially in a legislative assembly. insipid (adjective) Lacking in taste; vapid, flat, dull, heavy, and spiritless. tsunami (noun) Very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption. pandemic (noun) Occurring over a wide geographic area; affecting a large population. conclave (noun) Assembly of cardinals to elect the Roman Catholic pope; a secret assembly. levee (noun) A formal reception of guests, as in a royal court; a pier that provides a place to land at a river; an embankment that was made to prevent a river from overflowing. inept (adjective) Not apt or fitting, inappropriate; lack of judgement, sense, or reason; foolish; bungling or clumsy; incompetent.
For 2005, integrity was the most looked-up word in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. According to John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, the word integrity slowly moved up the list to first place in 2005 because ethics scandals emerged around the United States regarding corporations, government, and sports, such as the CIA leak investigations, scandals in Congress, and disgraced athletes.
Hurricane Katrina, the bird flu, and the death of Pope John Paul II renewed public interest in words such as refugee, tsunami, pandemic, conclave, and levee. The word refugee was also a candidate for the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year; according to Morse, the term gained notoriety as the entire country debated with how to describe people affected by Hurricane Katrina. The debate, over whether refugee was the proper term to describe displaced residents or whether the term was pejorative, summoned several Americans to look up the word in their dictionaries to form their own opinion. The word refugee received more queries in one month than most words in an entire year. The word insipid made the Top 10 list after Simon Cowell described Anthony Fedorov's performance in American Idol as "pleasant, safe, and a little insipid." At number 10 is inept, a word that received a lot of attention after the days when President George W. Bush delivered a live prime time news conference that came to an awkward end when some television networks cut him off to return to their regularly scheduled programs.
2006