Merriam-Webster has named “slop” as its Word of the Year for 2025, highlighting growing public unease over the flood of low-quality digital content dominating online spaces.
The dictionary publisher said the term saw a sharp rise in searches throughout the year, reflecting widespread frustration with what it defines as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
According to Merriam-Webster, the word encapsulates a range of online material that has increasingly filled social media feeds and digital marketplaces in 2025 — from distorted videos and awkward advertisements to misleading propaganda, realistic-looking fake news, and cheaply produced AI-generated books.
“All that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters,” the company said in announcing its selection.
A Word Shaped by the Digital Moment
Merriam-Webster’s annual Word of the Year is chosen primarily through spikes in online search activity, which often mirror major cultural and political moments. In recent years, that method has produced words closely tied to current events, including “pandemic,” “vaccine,” and last year’s pick, “polarization,” during the 2024 U.S. presidential election cycle.
In 2025, editors said search trends pointed overwhelmingly toward concerns about digital quality, authenticity, and the impact of artificial intelligence on media and communication.
Other words that saw notable increases in lookups this year included “gerrymander,” “touch grass,” “performative,” “tariff,” “six seven,” and “conclave,” underscoring a mix of political debate, internet slang, and global affairs.
Unexpected Search Trends
Merriam-Webster editors also noted a surprising surge in searches for Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg — an alternative name for Webster Lake in Massachusetts. The lake’s complex name gained attention after appearing in the popular online game Roblox, pushing it into the dictionary’s most-searched terms.
How It Compares to Other Word Picks
Other dictionary publishers have taken different approaches to defining the linguistic mood of the year. Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, incorporates public voting alongside data analysis. For 2025, Oxford selected “rage bait,” describing it as online content intentionally designed to provoke anger or outrage.
Oxford said more than 30,000 people participated in its three-day voting process, with editors noting that the term reflects deeper concerns about attention, engagement, and ethics in digital spaces. Oxford’s 2024 word of the year was “brain rot,” referring to the perceived mental decline linked to excessive consumption of trivial online content.
A Snapshot of 2025
Together, the selections point to a shared theme: growing anxiety over how digital content is created, consumed, and monetized. By choosing “slop,” Merriam-Webster said it aimed to capture a defining frustration of 2025 — the challenge of navigating an online world increasingly shaped by volume over value.
