\n<\/p>\n
Creepy, zany and demonstrably fake content is often called \u201cslop.\u201d The word’s proliferation online, in part thanks to the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence<\/a>, landed it Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such an illustrative word,” said Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster’s president, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday\u2019s announcement. \u201cIt\u2019s part of a transformative technology, AI, and it\u2019s something that people have found fascinating, annoying and a little bit ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSlop\u201d was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but it evolved more generally to mean something of little value. The definition<\/a> has since expanded to mean “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”<\/p>\n In other words, \u201cyou know, absurd videos, weird advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks real, junky AI-written digital books,\u201d Barlow said.<\/p>\n AI video generators like Sora<\/a> have wowed with their ability to quickly create realistic clips based merely on text prompts. But a flood of these images on social media, including clips depicting celebrities and deceased public figures, has raised worries about misinformation, deepfakes and copyright.<\/p>\n Such content has existed online for years, but the tools are more accessible now \u2014 and used to political ends by, among other figures, the head of the Pentagon. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a manipulated image of a beloved cartoon turtle, reimagined as a grenade-wielding fighter<\/a>, to defend U.S. military actions in Venezuela.<\/p>\n The Canadian animated show \u201cFranklin\u201d teaches preschoolers about kindness, empathy and inclusivity \u2014 but in Hegseth’s hands, its 6-year-old main character became a tool to promote violence.<\/p>\n The word \u201cslop\u201d evokes unpleasant images of mud-caked pigs crowding around a dirty trough, or perhaps a bucket of steaming, fetid stew. Or AI amalgamations of algorithmic biases laden with offensive or nonsensical imagery.<\/p>\n For some, the word induces dread.<\/p>\n But to Barlow, it brings a sense of hope. The dictionary’s president says the spike in searches for the word reflects that people have grown more aware of fake or shoddy content, and desire the inverse.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want things that are real, they want things that are genuine,” he said. “It\u2019s almost a defiant word when it comes to AI. When it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes AI actually doesn\u2019t seem so intelligent.\u201d<\/p>\n To select the word of the year, the dictionary’s editors review data about which words have risen in search results and usage. Then they come to a consensus about which word best reflects the span of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe like to think that we are a mirror for people,” Barlow said.<\/p>\n Over the years, there are words that are consistently looked up, but they’re filtered out as the dictionary’s editors pick the one that best defines the year at hand.<\/p>\n \u201cWords like \u2018ubiquitous,\u2019 \u2018paradigm,\u2019 \u2018albeit,\u2019 \u2018irregardless,\u2019 these are always top lookups because they\u2019re words that are on the edge of our lexicon,” Barlow said. \u201c’Irregardless’ is a word in the dictionary for one reason: It\u2019s used. It\u2019s been used for decades to mean \u2018regardless.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The dictionary has selected one word every year since 2003 to capture and make sense of the current moment. Last year, shortly after the U.S. presidential election and amid the shifting national mood, Merriam-Webster chose the word \u201c polarization<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n A fresh edition came out last month that adds over 5,000 new words<\/a> \u2014 a rare step that involves fully revising and reimagining one of its most popular dictionaries.<\/p>\n Rounding out Merriam-Webster\u2019s top words of 2025:<\/p>\n 6-7<\/p>\n The viral term<\/a> exploded in popularity over the summer. It\u2019s an inside joke with an unclear meaning, driven by social media. It can be traced back to rapper Skrilla\u2019s 2024 song \u201cDoot Doot (6 7).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s self-referential,” Barlow said. \u201cIt\u2019s all the rage, but it\u2019s not a defining term.\u201d<\/p>\n Performative<\/p>\n The “performative male” is online shorthand for a disingenuous guy who pretends to like things women like in order to earn their trust. There’s also a spate of influencers who’ve been called performative for posting surface-level \u201c kindness content<\/a>.\u201d The word is versatile, since it extends to stunts in national politics, grandstanding on social media and even the nature of the UN General Assembly.<\/a><\/p>\n Gerrymander<\/p>\n There’s a long national history of partisan gerrymandering<\/a> in the U.S. To retain Republican control of Congress, President Donald Trump has urged maps to be redrawn before the 2026 midterm elections. That’s led to GOP moves in Texas and Indiana to draw districts to their advantage, as well as a counter effort in Democrat-led California.<\/p>\n Touch grass<\/p>\n The definition of this popular internet phrase is \u201cto participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions.\u201d It was a serious contender for Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, since it’s used to \u201cdescribe the aspiration for many people to take a break from their digital addiction,\u201d Barlow said.<\/p>\n Conclave<\/p>\n A conclave<\/a> is the centuries-old election of a pope that derives its name from the Italian \u201ccon clave\u201d \u2014 meaning \u201cwith a key\u201d \u2014 to underscore that cardinals are sequestered until they find a winner.<\/p>\n Some learned the meaning from the titular film in 2024. Others found out in real time when Pope Leo XIV became history\u2019s first American pope<\/a> in May 2025. \u201cIt was so event specific, but the spike (in searches) was huge,” Barlow said.<\/p>\n Tariffs<\/p>\n Originally from Italian and Arabic for \u201cfree of charge,\u201d the word entered English centuries ago. The definition is \u201ca schedule of duties imposed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump boasts that his tariffs<\/a> protect American industries, lure factories to the U.S., raise money for the federal government and give him diplomatic leverage. But they’ve sparked a trade war and in reality account for less than 4% of federal revenue. The tariffs have also done little to dent the federal budget deficit \u2014 a staggering $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025.<\/p>\n Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg<\/p>\n Yes, you read that correctly. \u201cThe name of this lake delighted and baffled us when it started clogging the Top Lookups list on Merriam-Webster.com,\u201d the dictionary’s editors said. In the Roblox game Spelling Bee!, the Massachusetts lake\u2019s name can be encountered in special modes. But in New England? It’s known as Webster Lake.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Which words defined the last 10 years, according to Merriam-Webster?<\/p>\n 1. 2024: polarization<\/a><\/p>\n 2. 2023: authentic<\/a><\/p>\n 3. 2022: gaslighting<\/a><\/p>\n 4. 2021: vaccine<\/a><\/p>\n 5. 2020: pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n 6. 2019: they<\/a><\/p>\n 7. 2018: justice<\/a><\/p>\n 8. 2017: feminism<\/a><\/p>\n 9. 2016: surreal<\/a><\/p>\n 10. 2015: ism<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Creepy, zany and demonstrably fake content is often called \u201cslop.\u201d The word’s proliferation online, in part thanks to the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence, landed it Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year. \u201cIt\u2019s such an illustrative word,” said Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster’s president, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday\u2019s announcement. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Merriam-Websters-2025-word-of-the-year-is-slop.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13508,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13506\/revisions\/13508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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