2025’s words of the year reflect a year of digital disillusionment

From AI slop to rage bait, to the cryptic ‘6-7,’ this year’s slate captures a growing sense that online life is flooded with fakery, frustration and meaninglessness.

Author: Roger J. Kreuz on Dec 05, 2025

Source: The Conversation

Many of the year's winners reference the lack of meaning and certainty in our online interactions. Mininyx Doodle/iStock via Getty Images

Which terms best represent 2025?

Every year, editors for publications ranging from the Oxford English Dictionary to the Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English select a “word of the year.”

Sometimes these terms are thematically related, particularly in the wake of world-altering events. “Pandemic,” “lockdown” and “coronavirus,” for example, were among the words chosen in 2020. At other times, they are a potpourri of various cultural trends, as with 2022’s “goblin mode,” “permacrisis” and “gaslighting.”

This year’s slate largely centers on digital life. But rather than reflecting the unbridled optimism about the internet of the early aughts – when words like “w00t,” “blog,” “tweet” and even “face with tears of joy” emoji (