List of American Dialect Society's Words of the Year

Last updated November 01, 2025

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The American Dialect Society's Word of the Year (WotY^[a]) are voted at the January American Dialect Society conference. The first year for which the word of the year was voted ("bushlips") by the ADS was 1990.^[2]

2024

Word of the Year: rawdog :^[3] to undertake without usual protection, preparation, or comfort (extension of earlier meaning ‘to have sex without a condom’)
Most useful: lock in :^[2] to enter a state of deep focus and concentration
Most likely to succeed: unserious
Political Word of the Year: Luigi
Digital Word of the Year: brainrot
Informal Word of the Year: rawdog
Most Creative Word of the Year: "the X I Xed": phrasal template with an invented irregular verb, used as a playful intensifier (as in “the gasp I gusped/guspt,” “the scream I scrempt”)
Most Fun While It Lasted Word of the Year: brat

2023

Word of the Year: enshittification ^[1]
Most useful/Most likely to succeed: (derogatory): parenthetical comment humorously appended after a word that might not be expected to be derogatory
Political Word of the Year: 🍉 (watermelon emoji): symbol of Palestinian solidarity used on social media
Digital Word of the Year: enshittification
Informal Word of the Year: "let (someone) cook": allow (someone) to do something that they are good at without interference
Acronym/Initialism of the Year: FAFO (fuck around and find out): warning that foolish actions will result in unwanted consequences
AI-related Word of the Year: stochastic parrot
Most Creative Word of the Year: Kenaissance: renaissance in the wake of the Barbie movie's depiction of Ken
Euphemism of the Year: "structurally restrictive housing": solitary confinement (rebranded by the New York City Department of Correction)

2022

Word of the Year: "-ussy": suffix from "pussy", attached to various words, as in "bussy" = "boy pussy"^[2]
Most useful/Most likely to succeed: "quiet quitting", minimal performance at a job ^[2]
Political Word of the Year: "Dark Brandon", a hint to "Let's Go Brandon, a hint to Joe Biden ^[2]
Digital Word of the Year: "-dle", for Wordle-like games^[2]
Informal Word of the Year: " it’s giving (X)",^[2]
Most Creative Word of the Year: "-ussy", see above^[2]
Euphemism of the Year: "special military operation", same choice and as for the Russian Word of the Year 2022: a euphemism for the Russian invasion of Ukraine ^[2]
Snowclone/phrasal template of the Year: "not X", to ironically express mock horror, incredulity, etc.^[2]
Emoji of the Year: 💀 [skull], to express death (not) from something: laughter, frustration, etc.^[2]

2021

Word of the Year: Insurrection ^[2]
Most Likely to Succeed: antiwork
Most Useful: hard pants
Political Word of the Year: Insurrection
Digital Word of the Year: #FreeBritney
Pandemic-related Word of the Year (special category): boosted
Financial/Economic Word of the Year (special category): Supply chain
Informal Word of the Year: yassify
Most Creative Word of the Year: Fauci ouchie
Euphemism of the Year: unalive

2020

Word of the Year: Covid ^[2]
Most Likely to Succeed: antiracism
Most Useful: Before Times
Political Word of the Year: abolish/defund
Digital Word of the Year: doomscrolling
Zoom-related Word of the Year (special category): you're muted
Pandemic-related Word of the Year (special category): social distancing
Slang/Informal Word of the Year: the rona
Most Creative Combining Form: quaran- (as in quarantini, quaranteam, quaranbeard, quarantigue)
Euphemism of the Year: essential (workers, labor, businesses)
Emoji of the Year: (face with medical mask)

2018

Word of the Year: tender-age shelter/camp/facility ^[2]
Political Word of the Year: (the) wall
Digital Word of the Year: techlash
Slang/Informal Word of the Year: yeet
Most Useful: Voldemorting
Most Likely to Succeed: single-use
Most Creative: white-caller crime
Euphemism of the Year: racially charged
WTF Word of the Year: deleted family unit
Hashtag of the Year: #nottheonion
Emoji of the Year: (thinking face emoji)

2017

Word of the Year: fake news ^[2]
Political Word of the Year: antifa
Digital Word of the Year: shitpost
Slang/Informal Word of the Year: wypipo
Most Useful: die by suicide
Most Likely to Succeed: fake news
Most Creative: broflake
Euphemism of the Year: alternative facts
WTF Word of the Year: covfefe
Hashtag of the Year: #metoo
Emoji of the Year: (woman with head scarf or hijab)

2016

Word of the Year: dumpster fire ^[2]
Political Word of the Year: post-truth
Digital Word of the Year: @ (verb) reply on Twitter using the @ symbol
Slang Word of the Year: woke
Most Useful/Most Likely to Succeed: gaslight
Most Creative: laissez-fairydust
Euphemism of the Year: locker-room banter
WTF Word of the Year: bigly
Hashtag of the Year: #NoDAPL
Emoji of the Year: (fire) ``"lit", exciting``

2015

Word of the Year: they ^[2]
Most Useful/Most Likely to Succeed: they
Most Creative: ammosexual
Most Unnecessary: manbun
Most Outrageous: fuckboy, fuckboi
Most Euphemistic: Netflix and chill
Most Likely to Succeed: ghost
Least Likely to Succeed: sitbit
Most Notable Hashtag: #SayHerName
Most Notable Emoji (new category): (eggplant emoji) sexual innuendo

2014

Word of the Year: #blacklivesmatter ^[2]
Most Useful: evenfrom "I can't even"
Most Creative: columbusing
Most Unnecessary: baeless
Most Outrageous: second-amendmentv. to kill (someone) with a gun
Most Euphemistic: EIT
Most Likely to Succeed: salty
Least Likely to Succeed: platisher
Most Notable Hashtag (new category): #blacklivesmatter

2013

Word of the Year: becauseintroducing a noun, adjective, or other part of speech (e.g., "because reasons," "because awesome")^[2]
Most Useful: because
Most Creative: catfish
Most Unnecessary: sharknado
Most Outrageous: underbutt
Most Euphemistic: least untruthful
Most Likely to Succeed: binge-watch
Least Likely to Succeed: Thanksgivukkah
Most Productive: -shaming

2012

Word of the Year: #hashtag ^[2]
Most Useful: -(po)calypse, -(ma)geddon
Most Creative: gate lice
Most Unnecessary: legitimate rape
Most Outrageous: legitimate rape
Most Euphemistic: self-deportation
Most Likely to Succeed: marriage equality
Least Likely to Succeed: tie between phablet and YOLO
Election Words: binders (full of women)

2011

Word of the Year: Occupy ^[2]
Most Useful: humblebrag
Most Creative: Mellencampa woman who has aged out of being a "cougar (after John Cougar Mellencamp)
Most Unnecessary: bi-winning
Most Outrageous: assholocracy
Most Euphemistic: job creator
Most Likely to Succeed: cloud
Least Likely to Succeed: brony
Occupy Words: the 99%, 99 percenters

2010

Word of the Year: app ^[2]
Most Useful: nom
Most Creative: prehab
Most Unnecessary: refudiate
Most Outrageous: gate rape
Most Euphemistic: kinetic event
Most Likely to Succeed: trend
Least Likely to Succeed: culturomics
Fan Words: gleek

2009

Word of the Year: tweet^[2]
Word of the Decade: google
Most Useful: fail
Most Creative: Dracula sneeze
Most Unnecessary: sea kittens
Most Outrageous: death panel
Most Euphemistic: hike the Appalachian trail
Most Likely to Succeed: twenty-ten
Least Likely to Succeed: Any name of the decade 2000-2009, such as Naughties, Aughties, Oughties, etc.

2008

Word of the Year: bailout ^[2]
Most Useful: Barack ObamaBoth names as combining forms
Most Creative: recombobulation area
Most Unnecessary: moofing
Most Outrageous: terrorist fist jab
Most Euphemistic: scooping technician
Most Likely to Succeed: shovel-ready
Least Likely to Succeed: PUMA
Election-related Words: maverick

2007

Word of the Year: subprime ^[2]
Most Useful: green-
Most Creative: Googlegänger
Most Unnecessary: Happy Kwanhanamas!
Most Outrageous: toe-tapper
Most Euphemistic: human terrain team
Most Likely to Succeed: green-
Least Likely to Succeed: strand-in
Real Estate/Mortgage/Loan Words: subprime

2006

Word of the Year: to pluto/be plutoed^[2]
Most Useful: climate canary
Most Creative: lactard
Most Unnecessary: SuriKat
Most Outrageous: Cambodian accessory
Most Euphemistic: waterboarding
Most Likely to Succeed: YouTubeas a verb, to use the YouTube web site or to have a video of one’s self be posted on the site
Least Likely to Succeed: grup
Pluto-Related Words: to be plutoed, to pluto

2005

Word of the Year: truthiness ^[2]
Most Useful: podcast
Most Creative: whale-tail
Most Unnecessary: K Fed
Most Outrageous: crotchfruit, a child or children^[2]
Most Euphemistic: internal nutrition, force-feeding a prisoner^[2]
Most Likely to Succeed: sudoku
Least Likely to Succeed: pope-squatting , registering a likely domain name of a new pope in advance^[2]
Special nonce category, Best Tom Cruise-Related Word: "jump the couch"^[2]

1990

Word of the Year: bushlips : insincere political rhetoric; the term was inspired by the former president, George H.W. Bush, who once said, "Read my lips, no new taxes, and then broke his promise.^[1]

Notes

↑ WotY is pronounced as "WHOA-tea"^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 5 Sam Corbin, Among Linguists, the Word of the Year Is More of a Vibe, The New York Times
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 All of the Words of the Year, 1990 to Present
↑ "American Dialect Society once again chooses chaos, names "rawdog" 2024 Word Of The Year". AV Club. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

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[2] WotY is pronounced as "WHOA-tea"^[1]

[saco-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Sam Corbin, Among Linguists, the Word of the Year Is More of a Vibe, The New York Times

[all-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 All of the Words of the Year, 1990 to Present

[4] "American Dialect Society once again chooses chaos, names "rawdog" 2024 Word Of The Year". AV Club. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

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