Merriam-Webster officially updated its dictionary with 1,400 new words, definitions, and updated meanings. The publisher described the expansion as a digital “glow-up” to its lexicon, reflecting how internet culture, artificial intelligence, and evolving social habits continue to reshape the English language.
To earn a spot in the dictionary, editors look for three main criteria: frequent use, widespread use, and meaningful use over time.
Highlights from the 1,400 New Additions
Internet & Social Media Slang
- Glow-up: A usually dramatic enhancement, especially to someone’s or something’s physical appearance or circumstances.
- Looksmaxxing: Taking one or more (sometimes extreme) measures intended to maximize one’s physical attractiveness.
- Rickroll: To trick someone into opening a link that plays Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
- Parasocial: Relating to a one-sided emotional connection with someone (often a celebrity, influencer, or fictional character) whom one does not know personally.
- Crashout: Updated to formally include meanings around a severe mental/emotional breakdown or outburst.
- Trash Panda: Affectionate slang term for a raccoon.
Modern Feelings & Relationships
- Sunday Scaries: The feeling of anxiety, dread, or sadness that sets in as the weekend comes to an end and the workweek approaches.
- Cuffing Season: The colder months of the year when single people actively seek short-term romantic partnerships.
- Copium: A metaphorical substance people allegedly consume to maintain denial or avoid dealing with disappointment.
- Promposal: An elaborate or extravagantly staged invite asking someone to be a date to a prom.
Tech, AI & Finance
- Vibe Coding: The practice of using AI tools to write software code based on natural language prompts.
- AGI: Abbreviation for Artificial General Intelligence.
- Compute (as a noun): The processing power and memory resources required for a program or system to function.
- Meme Coin: A cryptocurrency created primarily as a meme or joke, usually driven by online hype rather than technical utility.
- Uncanny Valley: The eerie, uncomfortable feeling experienced when viewing an artificial representation that appears almost—but not quite—human.
Food, Lifestyle & Culture
- Bao & Chili Crisp: Popular culinary additions joining items like cake pop and shishito.
- California Sober: A lifestyle of abstaining from alcohol and hard drugs while still using cannabis.
- Letterboxing: The technique of formatting video content to fit aspect ratios on different screen sizes.
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