Oxford’s Word of the Year 2025 is utterly infuriating

By Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — You know that feeling when you read something online and it seems deliberately provocative, almost manufactured to create outrage? You may have just encountered “rage bait” – content deliberately designed to elicit anger in order to increase engagement.

And it has become so ubiquitous online that the Oxford Dictionary named “rage bait” as its Word of the Year on Sunday.

Use of the term has increased threefold this year, suggesting people know “they are being drawn ever more quickly into polarizing debates and arguments as a response to social media algorithms and the addictive nature of outrage content,” the UK-based dictionary said in a statement.

Almost every major dictionary has named a word that relates to the Internet as their 2025 word of the year, highlighting the technology’s grip on daily life and the language we use to describe it.

Sometimes, rage bait can be relatively harmless – a recipe that contains disgusting food combinations or someone annoying their pet, partner or sibling. But it has also entered political discourse, with outrage used to boost politicians’ profiles and provoke a chain of reaction and counter-reaction.

Collins Dictionary chose “vibe coding,” a form of software development that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to turn natural language into computer code, and the Cambridge Dictionary settled on “parasocial,” referencing the relationships people form online with someone they don’t know, as their words of the year.

And last year Oxford chose “brain rot,” which “captured the mental drain of endless scrolling,” Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, said in a statement.

Taken together, rage bait and brain rot “form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted,” Grathwohl said.

“These words don’t just define trends; they reveal how digital platforms are reshaping are thinking and behavior,” he added.

Oxford Dictionary let the public choose its word of the year from a shortlist that also included “aura farming” and “biohack,” posting parody videos on its Instagram to convey the spirit of each word.

Aura farming, “the cultivation of an impressive, attractive, or charismatic persona … by presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique,” was portrayed as a cardigan-wearing, tote bag-carrying man, “always one matcha away from finishing (an) experimental screenplay.”

And biohack, “an attempt … to optimize one’s … health, longevity or wellbeing by altering one’s diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle, or by using other means such as drugs, supplements or technological devices,” was visualized as someone hooked up to a green IV drip and wearing an LED face mask, who had taken “27 phytonutrient-dense plants” by 6:34 a.m.

Rage bait, meanwhile, slopped milk and sugar everywhere while he made a cup of tea, before picking his toenails and pouring the milk over himself.

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