Merriam-Webster has named “slop” as its word of the year for 2025, citing the term as a reflection of the flood of low-quality digital content dominating online feeds. The dictionary defines slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,” capturing the wave of absurd videos, off-kilter ads, cheesy propaganda, and AI-generated material that have filled social media this year.
The company noted that the selection reflects the sheer volume of content people encounter online, all summed up in a four-letter word. Other notable words and phrases in 2025 included gerrymander, touch grass, performative, tariff, six-seven, and conclave. Merriam-Webster also highlighted Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in Massachusetts, which gained attention through its appearance in online gaming communities like Roblox. The word of the year is determined primarily by spikes in online searches, often linking the choice to current events, as was the case with “pandemic” in 2020 and “vaccine” in 2021. Merriam-Webster’s 2024 word of the year had been “polarization,” reflecting interest around the presidential election.
Meanwhile, Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, took a different approach in 2025, selecting “rage bait” as its word of the year. Defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage,” Oxford said the term captures the evolving ways digital content drives attention and engagement. The selection followed a three-day voting process that drew over 30,000 votes, with the previous year’s word, “brain rot,” describing the perceived decline of mental acuity from overconsumption of trivial or unchallenging online content.