The results of the 2024 US presidential election reverberated across the country and the world, sparking deep divisions, which have been captured in Merriam-Webster’s choice for Word of the Year, “polarization.”
According to Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, “polarization” describes a specific type of division, one that tends toward extremes rather than a balanced middle ground.
The election, marked by intense political friction, led many voters to view the opposing candidate as an existential threat to the nation.
AP VoteCast’s survey of over 120,000 voters revealed that about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris supporters saw Donald Trump’s views as extreme, while around 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same about Harris.
The term “polarization” has evolved to reflect not just political discord but also broader social and cultural rifts. It highlights the stark disagreements that permeate politics, race relations, pop culture, and more. Merriam-Webster’s entry for “polarization” points out its use in contexts like the divide between tech trends, celebrity controversies, and even memes.
As per the news agency AP, in a world where the concept of truth is increasingly contested, Sokolowski sees the dictionary as a neutral arbiter. “It’s a kind of backstop for meaning in an era of fake news, alternative facts,” he explained.
Other top words
Merriam-Webster’s top words of 2024 include terms that captured the public’s attention across various sectors.
Demure
TikToker Jools Lebron’s 38-second video describing her workday makeup routine as “very demure, very mindful” lit up the summer with memes. The video has been viewed more than 50 million times, yielding “huge spikes” in lookups, Sokolowski said, and prompting many to learn it means reserved or modest.
Fortnight
Taylor Swift’s song “Fortnight,” featuring rapper Post Malone, undoubtedly spurred many searches for this word, which means two weeks. “Music can still send people to the dictionary,” Sokolowski said.
Totality
The solar eclipse in April inspired awe and much travel. There are tens of millions of people who live along a narrow stretch from Mexico’s Pacific coast to eastern Canada, otherwise known as the path of totality, where locals and travelers gazed skyward to see the moon fully blot out the sun. Generally, the word refers to a sum or aggregate amount — or wholeness.
Resonate
“Texts developed by AI have a disproportionate percentage of use of the word ‘resonate,’” Sokolowski said. This may be because the word, which means to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way, can add gravitas to writing. But, paradoxically, artificial intelligence “also betrays itself to be a robot because it’s using that word too much.”
Allision
The word was looked up 60 times more often than usual when, in March, a ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. “When you have one moving object into a fixed object, that’s an allision, not a collision. You’re showing that one of the two objects struck was not, in fact, in motion,” Sokolowski said.
Weird
This summer on the TV news show “Morning Joe,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Republican leaders “weird.” It may have been what launched his national career, landing him as the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Though it’s a word that people typically misspell — is it “ei” or “ie”? — and search for that reason, its rise in use was notable, Sokolowski said.
Cognitive
Whether the word was used to raise questions about President Joe Biden’s debate performance or Trump’s own age, it cropped up often. It refers to conscious intellectual activity — such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering.
Pander
Pander was used widely in political commentary, Sokolowski said. “Conservative news outlets accused Kamala Harris of pandering to different groups, especially young voters, Black voters, gun rights supporters.” Whereas Walz said Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s kitchen pandered to hourly wage workers. It means to say, do, or provide what someone — such as an audience — wants or demands even though it is not “good, proper, reasonable, etc.”
Democracy
In 2003, Merriam-Webster decided to make “democracy” its first word of the year. Since then, the word — which, of course, means a form of government in which the people elect representatives to make decisions, policies and laws — is consistently one of the dictionary’s most looked up. “There’s a poignancy to that, that people are checking up on it,” Sokolowski said. “Maybe the most hopeful thing that the curiosity of the public shows, is that they’re paying attention.”
Merriam-Webster’s annual word selection not only mirrors societal trends but also sheds light on what the public is paying attention to. The past decade of words, from “authentic” in 2023 to “culture” in 2014, highlights a broader cultural shift, emphasising the evolving concerns and values of society.