Oxford University Press picks “rage bait” as its word of the year for 2025
Dictionary | Courtesy: MGN
Even if you don’t know the meaning of the Oxford University Press’ word of the year for 2025, you’ve probably been a victim of it on social media.
The publisher for the Oxford English Dictionary said on Monday it chose “rage bait” as its top word for the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.
The word of the year is selected by lexicographers at Oxford University Press who analyze new and emerging words, as well as changes in the way language is being used, to identify words of “cultural significance.”
What is “rage bait”?
The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” to drive traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.
“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,” lexicographer Susie Dent told CBS News partner BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”
It is similar to clickbait, where a headline is used to lure a reader into viewing an article or a video, but rage bait content’s specific focus is on making people angry.
“The fact that the word ‘rage bait’ exists and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage means we’re increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online,” Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, told BBC News. “Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.”
2025 Word of the Year shortlist
Rage bait topped two other contenders – “aura farming” and “biohack” – after public comment on a shortlist compiled by the publisher’s lexicographers.
“Aura farming” means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.”
“Biohack” is defined as “an attempt to improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.”
Oxford’s past winners
Oxford University Press has selected a word of the year annually since 2004.
Past winners include “podcast” in 2005, “emoji” in 2015, and in 2022, “goblin mode,” which described people who resisted returning to normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year’s word, brain rot, captured the mental drain of mindless scrolling on Instagram or TikTok.
Cambridge Dictionary declared “parasocial” as its 2025 word of the year, defined as “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence.”
Dictionary.com named “67” as its 2025 word of the year.
