Merriam-Webster’s Word Of The Year: “Gaslighting”

The Associated Press reports:

“Gaslighting” — mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.

The gaslighting was pervasive. “It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s unveiling.

Read the full article. Other top look-ups for 2022 include oligarch and omicron.

What headline? ‘Gaslighting’ is Merriam-Webster’s word of 2022 https://t.co/iMOSiY3Cpp

— WGN Morning News (@WGNMorningNews) November 28, 2022