Merriam-Webster has just unveiled its word of the year for 2024.
On Monday (December 9), the publisher known for its American Dictionary announced that “polarization” was the word of the year. The definition of the word describes a “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.”
The word dates back to the 1800s when the verb “polarize” was first used to describe light waves; the inital definition was “to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern.”
In the announcement, Merriam-Webster explained that many Americans searched the word this year to help them understand the “complex state of affairs” regarding the political landscape in both the U.S. and the world.
The dictionary also listed examples of “polarization” being used in the media, mentioning Fox News and MSNBC in terms of voters and politicians. However, the word can be used in other contexts, such as when Forbes wrote about “cultural polarization” in the workplace.
Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor at large, shared how the organization ended up choosing that specific word to represent the entire year.
“The online dictionary tells us which words are being looked up, but also in what volume. And so we try to have a data-driven list that explains what words sent people to the dictionary in the past year,” he told the Associated Press.
“This year was a year with an important election. The elections were clearly the story of the year,” he added. “And polarization is the term that has been used by everyone.”
Merriam-Webster also released other words that were considered for the word of the year title. The word “demure” was in the running following the viral TikTok trend; as well as “weird,” in reference to vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s “weird people on the other side.”
The word “fortnight” was also considered, after it was used by Taylor Swift on her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Last week, the Oxford University Press — the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary — announced its 2024 word of the year was “brain rot.” The publishing company defined the phrase as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”
“Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
The phrase was chosen through a public vote from more than 37,000 people and six words to choose from, with “demure” also being one of the options. The number of times “brain rot” was used increased by 230 percent between 2023 and 2024.
“‘Brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life and how we are using our free time,” said Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages. “It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It’s not surprising that so many voters embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year.”
