LIFESTYLE

Dictionary.com names ‘Demure’ as its ‘Word of the Year for 2024’

Thursday, 28 Nov, 2024
(Photo courtesy: pexels.com)

Popular online dictionary platform Dictionary.com has officially announced its annual word of the year, and they’ve made a very mindful choice. 

Their 2024 Word of the Year is the viral sensation “demure,” which took off on TikTok in August of this year. It was popularized by TikToker Jools Lebron, whose phrase “very demure, very mindful” was featured in a series of viral videos and replicated by other creators. Lebron would also often pair the word with “cutesy” and “considerate,” providing advice to her followers for situations like “how to be demure and modest and respectful at the workplace.” 

Between January and September of this year, Dictionary.com says that Demure saw a 1200% increase in usage in digital web media and had 200 times more searches on Dictionary.com. 

Dictionary.com defines the word demure as “characterized by shyness and modesty; reserved” but the word took on new life through its internet fame—and soon anything from driving to work to eating a donut could be demure. Further, the word grew to represent how a term often associated with submissiveness and reservation can be empowering, and help people express a “quiet confidence,” Dictionary.com said in its announcement. 

Along with its top choice, Dictionary.com also announced their Word of the Year shortlist, which included Brainrot, Brat, Extreme Weather Midwest Nice, and Weird. 

Dictionary.com also noted how their choice of “demure” represents a shift in public life, as our collective vocabulary moves away from emphasizing the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and toward a greater concern with “personal presentation and appearance as in-person experiences become the norm again.” 

Last year, the platform chose “hallucinate” as its word of the year, specifically in the context of artificial intelligence. This year, though, their top choices lean more toward words of high internet popularity. 

'Manifest’ is Word of the Year 2024 for Cambridge Dictionary 

(Photo courtesy: pexels.com) 

Considering the rising trend of people trying to manifest their goals and dreams, and the word being searched almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, the word 'Manifest' is chosen as the the Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024. According to their website, manifest is one of the most-viewed words of 2024. 

The word was initially used in the self-help community and now it widely being used on social media and across mainstream media and beyond. Even celebrities like singer Dua Lipa, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, actress Alia Bhatt, and England striker Ollie Watkins have spoken of manifesting their success. 

The phrase “to manifest” is used in the sense of ‘to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen’. Yet manifesting is an unproven idea that grew out of a 100-year-old spiritual philosophy movement. 

Talking about how 'Manifest' was chosen as the Word of the Year 2024 by Cambridge Dictionary, Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Manager of the Cambridge Dictionary, said, “When we choose a Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, we have three considerations: What word was looked up the most, or spiked? Which one really captures what was happening in that year? And what is interesting about this word from a language point of view? "Manifest” won this year because it increased notably in lookups, its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events in 2024, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time.” 

However, experts warn that tough "manifesting” has become quite popular among people, it has no scientific validity. It can lead to risky behavior or the promotion of false and dangerous beliefs, like diseases can be simply wished away.