“In 2022, goblin mode was the Word of the Year. It captured a cultural embrace of laziness, a retreat from discipline and ambition… In 2023, rizz emerged, reflecting performative charisma—identity as performance… In 2024, brain rot…. Then came 2025, and the language of reality collapse became even more precise. The winner, rage bait” - Breakpoint
“…they picked a word that reflected what all of us, right now, seem to most long for.” - James Emery White
(and a very different perspective at Breakpoint)
“Merriam-Webster went full ‘beast mode’ this year, adding 690 words to their dictionary — nearly double the amount added last year.” - Relevant
“…in our day everything is political and that all of society’s structures and institutions are being made subservient to political ends. …Second, it affirms that in our society self-definition is considered unassailable so that a person’s individual defining of a word must reign over a dictionary’s.” - Challies
