The English language continues to evolve and Merriam-Webster is changing with it, adding 1,400 new words and definitions to the dictionary.
They may be words you hear and read all the time, and now they’re becoming official.
Many of the additions were influenced by “social media culture,” including looksmaxxing, parasocial, and Rickroll. You also have meme coin, promposals and letterboxing.
Technology has brought a change to compute, making it a noun instead of a verb; vibe coding; AGI (artificial general intelligence); and the uncanny valley, or the feeling that something artificial is nearly human but not quite.
So what is the benchmark Merriam-Webster uses to take a word from the lexicon and put it in the dictionary?
“Dictionaries have always been data-driven. A dictionary isn’t an idea museum, it’s a user’s manual for communication,” the publishers said.
A word needs to be used by many people to mean the same thing.
When a new word starts cropping up more frequently, it becomes a citation in a database to help trace its source and context. There are about 17 million citations. Then the search begins, looking at articles, books and speeches to see if the word or usage fits three usage criteria: frequent, widespread and meaningful.
Sometimes it isn’t a new word, but a new use. Merriam-Webster used the example of mouse, meaning not a rodent but the device attached to computers.
Still, Merriam-Webster said some words don’t make it into the publication, but they’re still words that may be particular to a region, profession, or even a family. They “are perfectly good words; it’s just unlikely that a person outside that area or group would encounter them. For now.”
Here is a sampling of the new words added this year and their definitions:
Glow-up: “a usually dramatic enhancement, especially to someone’s or something’s physical appearance”
Looksmaxxing: “the practice of taking one or more sometimes extreme or dangerous measures intended to increase one’s physical attractiveness:
Parasocial: “relating to or involving a one-sided emotional connection with someone (especially a celebrity or fictional character) whom one does not know personally”
Rickroll: “to trick (someone) into hearing the song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by English singer Rick Astley”
Meme coin: “an altcoin that is created typically as a humorous tribute to something (such as an Internet meme) or someone (such as a celebrity) and that typically has no real utility”
Promposal: “a creative and often elaborately or extravagantly staged request for someone to be one’s date for a prom”
Letterboxing: “the technique of formatting a recorded video so as to show the full frame within the screen area of a device (such as a television or phone) that has a different aspect ratio”
Compute: as a noun, “the computational resources (such as memory and processing power) required for a computer or computer program to function”
Vibe coding: “the act or practice of using an artificial intelligence system to generate computer code (see code entry 1 sense 5) in a given programming language
AGI: “the potential capability of computer systems or algorithms to match or exceed human cognitive abilities (such as reasoning and learning)”
Uncanny valley: “a psychological effect characterized by feelings of unease or revulsion in response to the nearly but imperfectly lifelike quality of something (such as a doll, a robot, an AI-generated image or voice, or a computer-animated character) that is intended to simulate a human”
Superfood: “a food (such as salmon, broccoli, or blueberries) that is rich in nutrients (such as antioxidants, fiber, or fatty acids) considered beneficial to one’s health”
Cake pop: “a lollipop (see lollipop sense 1b) made usually of a compressed ball of cake crumbs and icing that is dipped in a usually chocolate or sugary coating and often decorated (as with sprinkles or piped icing)”
Shishito: “a slender usually mild chili pepper of East Asia typically harvested while still green”
Bao: “a soft bread bun that is stuffed with a sweet or savory filling (such as fruit or meat) and is cooked by steaming or sometimes baking”
Chili Crisp: “a spicy, crunchy condiment made typically of oil, fried chili peppers, and often other aromatics (such as fried onions or garlic)”
Cuffing season: “a time of the year when people who are not married or in a relationship (see relationship sense 2c) begin looking for a short-term romantic partner to spend the colder months of the year with”
Sunday scaries: “feelings of anxiety or sadness that arise on Sunday from the knowledge that the weekend is almost over”
Crashout: “a mental or emotional breakdown”
Whack-a-mole: “a situation in which a new problem appears as soon as an existing similar problem has been addressed”
Yacht rock: “a style of soft rock music originating in the 1970s and 1980s”
California sober: “engaging in or characterized by recreational use of marijuana and/or alcohol combined with abstinence from other drugs (such as cocaine or methamphetamine)”
Shapewear: “tight-fitting undergarments designed to shape and smooth the body”
Neckbeard: “a beard that partially covers the area under the chin and the throat”
Copium: “avoidance, denial, or minimization (as of a bad situation, problem, outcome, etc.) imagined as a narcotic”
Trash panda: raccoon
Mandela Effect: “a phenomenon in which many people collectively misremember a specific fact, event, or detail in a consistent manner: the experience of many people having the same false memory”