Merriam-Webster Picks Its Word of the Year—and Highlights Nine Others That Defined 2024

Sharp divides have seemed to define America lately—and Merriam-Webster just made it official.

The famous American dictionary publisher on Monday announced that “polarization”—defined as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes”—is its Word of the Year for 2024.

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The term—which dates back to the early 1800s in reference to light waves but is often used today in relation to politics—was chosen at the end of the world’s biggest-ever election year, including a U.S. presidential race that saw left and right continue to split further apart. Merriam-Webster had already announced in October the introduction of new words to its dictionary in 2024, including “far left” and “far right” as well as “MAGA”—the shorthand for President-elect Donald Trump’s highly-polarizing Make America Great Again movement.

Polarization tends to be decried by observers. It’s bad for democracy, bad for our health. “In a little bit ironic twist to the word,” said Merriam-Webster’s editor at large Peter Sokolowski of the wide usage of “polarization” across the spectrum, in an interview with the Associated Press, “it’s something that actually everyone agrees on.”

But Merriam-Webster didn’t just pick one word for 2024. It also highlighted nine others that the dictionary publisher said “stood out” in search volume on its website this year:

totality

Defined as “the phase of an eclipse during which it is total,” the word “totality” garnered much interest surrounding the total solar eclipse that occurred in April 2024—a rare astronomical event that inspired intrigue and travel.

demure

The word “demure,” was popularized this year by TikTok creator Jools Lebron, who started an Internet trend centered around the phrase “very demure, very mindful.” According to Merriam-Webster: “In its earliest use in the 14th century, demure described people who avoid drawing attention to themselves. Since then, it has also come to describe those whose shyness is a bit of an act.”

fortnight

“Fortnight”—a primarily British word for a span of 14 days—was plucked “out of relative obscurity,” according to Merriam-Webster, by Taylor Swift, who promoted her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department with a “#ForAFortnightChallenge” on social media and whose song “Fortnight” has been nominated for Record of the Year at the 67th Grammy Awards. “It remains to be seen whether Swift’s use of the term will lead to its wider adoption in American English,” said the dictionary publisher.

pander

Lookups of the verb “pander”—which means “to say, do, or provide what someone wants or demands even though it is not proper, good, or reasonable”—spiked at the height of the U.S. presidential race in mid-October, according to Merriam-Webster, as both sides accused the other of pandering to different groups—from conservative outlets saying Democratic nominee Kamala Harris did it to Black men to Harris’ running mate Tim Walz saying Trump did it when he visited a McDonald’s.

resonate

Merriam-Webster thinks the word “resonate,” defined as “to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way,” saw an increase in searches because it is one of ChatGPT’s favorite words in its  AI-generated writing. The dictionary publisher also said the word appeared often in news stories about “political positions and issues resonating with voters.”

allision

The word “allision” emerged following the crash of a cargo ship into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, which caused the deaths of six workers. While many news outlets used the word “collision”—which Merriam-Webster says “according to some traditional definitions, refers only to contact between two moving objects”—to describe the incident, many maritime publications opted to use “allision”—defined as “the act or an instance of a ship striking a stationary object.” 

weird

“Weird” was weaponized by both sides of the political spectrum this presidential election. Minnesota Gov. Walz gained national prominence by his persistent labeling of Republicans and their platform as “weird,” while Republicans showed no hesitation lobbing the adjective (defined as “of strange or extraordinary character”) back at Democrats. “Weird seemed to be directed at not only the policies, but also the appearance and behavior, of the opposing candidates,” said Merriam-Webster.

cognitive

Like several other words on the list, “cognitive”—which means “of, relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity (such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering)”—saw a “notable” rise in searches this year, according to Merriam-Webster, on account of its relevance to the presidential election. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race amid questions about his “cognitive ability,” while Trump also faced accusations of “cognitive decline.” After the election, Merriam-Webster said, the term “cognitive dissonance” (referring to “psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously”) “appeared in discussions” about states that voted for Trump but against restrictions on access to abortion.

democracy

The word, which is defined as “government by the people,“ saw a surge in lookups throughout 2024 “across red states and blue states,” according to Merriam-Webster, “as people tried to fully understand what it means.” In a year best summed up by “polarization,” the dictionary publisher fittingly also put the spotlight back on its inaugural Word of the Year for 2003, when it began participating in the annual tradition. “The word democracy never appears in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution,” Merriam-Webster concluded its announcement, “but it has long been a focus of American and global attention, rarely more so than now.”