Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year is ‘slop’

Creepy, zany and obviously fake Material This is often called “slope”.

WordIts proliferation online is partly due to the wide availability of generative artificial intelligencetook it down Merriam-Webster2025 word of the year.

“It’s an illustrative term,” Merriam-Webster President Greg Barlow said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement.

“This is part of a transformative technology, ayeAnd it’s something that people have found fascinating, annoying, and a little bit funny.

“Slop” was first used in the 1700s to mean soft soil, but evolved to mean something generally of low value.

Definition It has since come to mean “less digital content”. quality Which is usually produced in quantity through artificial intelligence.”

In other words, “You know, ridiculous videos, weird advertising images, cheesy promotions, real-looking fake news, stupid AI-written digital books,” Barlow said.

AI video generators like Sora have surprised with their ability to instantly create realistic clips based only on text prompts. But the flood of these images on social media, including clips depicting celebrities and dead public figures, has raised concerns about misinformation, deepfakes and copyright.

Such material has existed online for years, but the tools are now more accessible — and used for political purposes by the head of the Pentagon, among other celebrities. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a manipulated image of a cute cartoon turtle re-imagined as a grenade-wielding fighter to defend U.S. military actions in Venezuela.

canadian animated shows franklin teaches preschoolers about kindness, empathy, and inclusivity — but in Hegseth’s hands, its 6-year-old main character becomes a tool to promote violence.

The word “slop” evokes the unpleasant image of a dirty pool, or perhaps a crowd of mud-stained pigs surrounding a bucket of steaming, smelly stew. Or an AI amalgamation of algorithmic biases coupled with offensive or nonsensical imagery.

For some people this word creates fear.

But for Barlow, it brings a sense of hope. The dictionary’s chairman says the rise in searches for the term shows people have become more aware of fake or substandard content, and want the opposite.

“They want things that are real, they want things that are real,” he said. “It’s almost a pejorative term when it comes to AI. When it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes AI doesn’t really seem that intelligent.”

To select the Word of the Year, the dictionary’s editors review data to see which words have increased in search results and usage. They then reach consensus on which word best reflects the period of the year.

“We like to think we’re a mirror for people,” Barlow said.

Over the years, there are words that are constantly seen, but they are filtered as the editors of the dictionary choose the word that best defines the coming year.

“Words like ‘ubiquitous,’ ‘paradigm,’ ‘albeit,’ ‘unappreciable,’ are always the top lookups because these are words that are on the edge of our lexicon,” Barlow said. “‘Irregardless’ is a word in the dictionary for a reason: it’s used. It’s been used to mean ‘without caring’ for decades.”

The dictionary has selected a word each year since 2003 to capture and explain the current moment. Last year, shortly after the U.S. presidential election and amid a changing national mood, Merriam-Webster chose the word “polarization.”

A refreshed edition came out last month that added more than 5,000 new words – a rare move that involves completely revising and reimagining one of its most popular dictionaries.

Meeting Merriam-Webster’s top words of 2025:

6-7

The popularity of the word viral grew rapidly over the summer. It’s an inside joke with a vague meaning, fueled by social media. This can be traced back to the 2024 song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by rapper Skrilla.

“It’s self-referential,” Barlow said. “It’s all the rage, but it’s not a defining word.”

functional

“Exhibitionist man” is online shorthand for a pretentious person who pretends to like things that women like in order to gain their trust. There are also many influencers who have been called protestors for posting superficial “kindness content.” The term is versatile, as it extends to stunts in national politics, posturing on social media and even the nature of the United Nations General Assembly.

to commit fraud

The US has a long national history of partisan gerrymandering to maintain Republican control of Congress and the President. donald trump has urged redrawing the maps before the 2026 midterm elections. This led to GOP moves to draw districts to their advantage in Texas and Indiana, as well as a counter-effort in Democrat-led California.

touch the grass

The definition of this popular Internet phrase is “participating in normal activities in the real world as opposed to exclusively online experiences and interactions.” It was a serious contender for Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, Barlow said, because it is used to “describe many people’s aspiration to take a break from digital addiction.”

conclave

A conclave is a centuries-old election of a Pope, taking its name from the Italian “con clave” – meaning “with the key” – to emphasize that the cardinals are kept in seclusion until a winner is found.

Some people learned its meaning from the titular movie in 2024. Others learned in real time when Pope Leo XIV became the first American Pope in history in May 2025. “This event was special, but the spike (in searches) was huge,” Barlow said.

charge

Originally from Italian and Arabic, the word “free” came into English centuries ago. Definition “A schedule of duties imposed by the government on goods imported or exported to certain countries.”

Trump claims his tariffs protect American industries, attract factories to the US, raise money for the federal government and give him diplomatic leverage. But they have waged a trade war and actually account for less than 4% of federal revenues. The tariffs also have done nothing to reduce the federal budget deficit — which is projected to reach a staggering $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025.

Lake Chargoggagogmanchauggagoggchaubunagungmaugg

Yes, you read that correctly. The dictionary editors said, “This lake name delighted and astonished us when it started making the top lookup lists on Merriam-Webster.com.” Roblox Game Spelling Bee! In, the name of the Massachusetts lake can be seen in special mode. But in New England? It is known as Webster Lake.

According to Merriam-Webster, what words define the last 10 years?

1. 2024: Polarization

2. 2023: Authentic

3. 2022: Gaslighting

4. 2021: Vaccine

5. 2020: Pandemic

6. 2019: They

7. 2018: Justice

8. 2017: feminism

9. 2016: real

10. 2015: ISM