The outcomes of the 2024 U.S. presidential election rattled the nation and despatched shockwaves internationally — or have been trigger for celebration, relying on who you ask. Is it any shock then that the Merriam-Webster phrase of the yr is “polarization”?
“Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” mentioned Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at massive, in an unique interview with The Related Press forward of Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”
The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a sense that the opposing candidate was an existential menace to the nation. Based on AP VoteCast, a survey of greater than 120,000 voters, about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters have been very or considerably involved that Donald Trump’s views — however not Harris’ — have been too excessive, whereas about 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the identical manner about Harris — however not Trump.
The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” displays scientific and metaphorical definitions. It’s mostly used to imply “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its website, chooses its phrase of the yr primarily based on information, monitoring an increase in search and utilization.
Final yr’s choose was “authentic.” This yr’s comes as massive swaths of the U.S. battle to achieve consensus on what’s actual.
It’s notable that “polarization” originated within the early 1800s — and never in the course of the Renaissance, as did most phrases with Latin roots about science, Sokolowski mentioned. He referred to as it a “pretty young word,” within the scheme of the English language. “Polarized is a term that brings intensity to another word,” he continued, most incessantly used within the U.S. to explain race relations, politics and beliefs.
“The basic job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words,” the Merriam-Webster editor continued. “We’ve had dictionaries of English for 420 years and it’s only been in the last 20 years or so that we’ve actually known which words people look up.”
Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake
“Polarization” extends past political connotations. It is used to focus on contemporary cracks and deep rifts alike in popular culture, tech traits and different industries.
All of the scrutiny over Taylor Swift’s personal jet utilization? Polarizing. Beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake? Polarizing. The Worldwide Olympic Committee’s choice to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal after the Paris Video games? You guessed it: polarizing.
Even lighthearted memes — like these making enjoyable of Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s efficiency — or the proliferation of look-alike contests, or who counts as a nepo child proved polarizing.
“It’s used by both sides,” he mentioned, “and in a little bit ironic twist to the word, it’s something that actually everyone agrees on.”
Rounding out Merriam-Webster’s high 10 phrases of 2024:
Demure
TikToker Jools Lebron’s 38-second video describing her workday make-up routine as “very demure, very mindful” lit up the summer time with memes. The video has been seen greater than 50 million instances, yielding “huge spikes” in lookups, Sokolowski mentioned, and prompting many to study it means reserved or modest.
Fortnight
Taylor Swift’s tune “Fortnight,” that includes rapper Publish Malone, undoubtedly spurred many searches for this phrase, which implies two weeks. “Music can still send people to the dictionary,” Sokolowski mentioned.
Totality
The photo voltaic eclipse in April impressed awe and far journey. There are tens of thousands and thousands of people that dwell alongside a slim stretch from Mexico’s Pacific coast to japanese Canada, in any other case often called the trail of totality, the place locals and vacationers gazed skyward to see the moon totally blot out the solar. Typically, the phrase refers to a sum or mixture quantity — or wholeness.
Resonate
“Texts developed by AI have a disproportionate percentage of use of the word ‘resonate,’” Sokolowski mentioned. This can be as a result of the phrase, which implies to have an effect on or enchantment to somebody in a private or emotional manner, can add gravitas to writing. However, paradoxically, synthetic intelligence “also betrays itself to be a robot because it’s using that word too much.”
Allision
The phrase was appeared up 60 instances extra usually than normal when, in March, a ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. “When you have one moving object into a fixed object, that’s an allision, not a collision. You’re showing that one of the two objects struck was not, in fact, in motion,” Sokolowski mentioned.
Bizarre
Cognitive
Whether or not the phrase was used to lift questions on President Joe Biden’s debate efficiency or Trump’s personal age, it cropped up usually. It refers to acutely aware mental exercise — comparable to pondering, reasoning, or remembering.
Individuals watch the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, on Sept. 10, 2024, in Milwaukee.
Pander
Democracy
In 2003, Merriam-Webster determined to make “democracy” its first phrase of the yr. Since then, the phrase — which, after all, means a type of authorities by which the individuals elect representatives to make selections, insurance policies and legal guidelines — is persistently one of many dictionary’s most appeared up. “There’s a poignancy to that, that people are checking up on it,” Sokolowski mentioned. “Perhaps essentially the most hopeful factor that the curiosity of the general public reveals, is that they’re paying consideration.”
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