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The words don’t stop coming, so we’re updating the dictionary more frequently than ever. And not just with any words: this update includes an incredibly useful concentration of terms for naming the complexities of modern life.
They represent the always-evolving nature of English and our lexicographers’ neverending efforts to document it. This update captures:
Complicated technical jargon that artificial intelligence has catapulted into our awareness (GPT, LLM)
Intriguing loanwords from languages around the world (jolabokaflod, kakeibo)
Fun insta-adds to your vocabulary for things you didn’t know there were words for (information pollution, decision fatigue, shower orange)
And a ton of other lexical jawns!
On with the unboxing!
What’s Inside
We’ll break down the words that are new to the dictionary, newly added, or newly revised (such as the AI sense of hallucinate). Keep in mind that words that are new to the dictionary are not always new to the language (or even remotely recent), but their growth and change is just as interesting.
We can’t endorse any words, but we can document their use in the real world. We are descriptive—we describe language as it is really used (not just how we or others may wish it would be used).
Learn more about how new words get added to Dictionary.com—and how the dictionary works.
Here’s the breakdown for this release:
Of course, some of the terms in the list below have more than one definition. We’ll highlight just the meanings most relevant to this release.
Pop Culture & Slang
jawn
noun. Informal. Chiefly Philadelphia. something or someone for which the speaker does not know or does not need a specific name.
Example: Can you hand me that jawn right there?
Philadelphians know that their favorite regional catchall term isn’t new—the first records of its use come from the early 2000s, when it started to be popularized in the Black community. Its addition reflects an increasing awareness of the term outside the region. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, but it may be a local Philadelphia variant of joint, which is used in a similar way in the New York City metropolitan area. nepo baby
noun. a celebrity with a parent who is also famous, especially one whose industry connections are perceived as essential to their success.
NIL
abbreviation. name, image, likeness: aspects of a collegiate athlete’s identity for which they may earn money from a third party, as for advertising sponsorship or merchandise sales, although they are prohibited from being paid directly by colleges and universities for their participation in intercollegiate sports.
Blursday
noun. Informal. a day not easily distinguished from other days, or the phenomenon of days running together.
Made-up day names are meant to capture the sameyness vibe of busy lives and work. Similar terms include Whoseday and Whensday. shower orange
noun. an orange that is peeled and eaten under a steamy shower, the purported benefit being that the steam enhances the orange’s citrusy fragrance and creates a soothing experience for the person who is showering.
The phenomenon and the name for it were popularized by a viral social media trend. Keep an eye out for similar practices, including shower beer and shower wine. Godwin’s Law
noun. an adage of internet culture stating that as any discussion or debate grows longer, there is a proportionate increase in the probability that someone will invoke a comparison to Hitler or the Nazi party.
Named after U.S. lawyer and author Mike Godwin (born 1956), who formulated the adage in 1991. Poe’s Law
noun. an adage of internet culture stating that unless some tone indicator is used, it is impossible to tell the difference between an extreme view being sincerely espoused and an extreme view being satirized.
Named after Nathan Poe, who posted about the concept on an internet forum in 2005. But the concept predates Poe’s post. campaign
noun. a story in a role-playing game, spread out over multiple play sessions, that usually keeps the same plot, setting, or main characters.
This is just one example of a word that’s obviously not new but for which our lexicographers have added a more recent sense.Modern Problems
As new phenomena proliferate in our complex modern world, new terms emerge to capture their specificity—a process shaped and accelerated by online culture and digital discourse. This is especially the case for behaviors considered toxic or harmful; those wishing to shine a spotlight on such practices often do so most effectively by giving them a specific name.
information pollution
noun. the introduction of falsehood, irrelevance, bias, and sensationalism into a source of information, resulting in a dilution or outright suppression of essential facts.
There are many sources of information pollution, and a newly prominent one is AI. See the relevant AI sense of hallucinate below. greenwashing
noun. an instance or practice of promoting or affiliating a brand, campaign, mission, etc., with environmentalism as a ploy to divert attention from policies and activities that are in fact anti-environmentalist.
The ending -washing in greenwashing and sportswashing below comes from the verb whitewash. sportswashing
noun. an instance or practice of rehabilitating the bad reputation of a person, company, nation, etc., or mitigating negative press coverage with a sports event, or an appeal to unify and reconcile groups in conflict by celebrating fans’ shared love of a game.
crypto-fascism
noun. secret support for fascism.
Note that crypto- is used here as a combining form meaning “hidden” or “secret,” not as a reference to cryptocurrency (which is now often referred to as crypto for short).sextortion
noun. criminal behavior in which a perpetrator illicitly obtains sexually compromising material, such as images, and then threatens to publish it or harm the victim in other ways unless further material or a sum of money is surrendered.
A blend of sex and extortion. jugging
noun. Informal. a theft committed by a perpetrator who waits at a bank, near an ATM, or outside an expensive store, watches for customers who might be carrying a large amount of cash or goods, and then follows them to steal the money or goods from the customer or from their car.
The word jugging is modeled on mugging. The word jug can be a slang term for a bank. hostile architecture
noun. design elements of public buildings and spaces that are intended to stop unwanted behavior such as loitering or sleeping in public by making such behavior difficult and uncomfortable.
prison industrial complex
noun. the network of government agencies and private industry that foster, benefit from, and contribute to mass incarceration, the imprisonment of large numbers of people.
Relatedly, this update also includes the newly added words decarcerate and decarceration, both used in the context of efforts to reduce the number of people in prison. crony capitalism
noun. an economic system in which success in business is obtained through relationships to people in political power rather than through competition.
The word crony means a close friend, but it is often used negatively, especially in the context of business and politics. Big Pharma
noun. pharmaceutical companies considered collectively, especially with reference to their political and commercial influence.
The construction used to create this phrase, in which the word Big is paired with a specific industry (such as in similar phrases like Big Oil), usually carries a negative connotation.Artificial Intelligence
This year marked a tipping point for mainstream awareness of AI, what it’s capable of, and terms related to how it works (and, in some cases, how it doesn’t).
generative AI
noun. Computers. artificial intelligence that is designed to process prompts from users and respond with text, images, audio, or other output that is modeled on a training data set.
chatbot
noun. a computer program designed to respond with conversational or informational replies to verbal or written messages from users.
GPT
abbreviation. Computers, Digital Technology. generative pre-trained transformer: a type of machine learning algorithm that uses deep learning and a large database of training text in order to generate new text in response to a user’s prompt.
Illustration: Iván Bravo. Hallucinate. 2023.
hallucinate
verb. Computers, Digital Technology. (of a machine learning program) to produce false information contrary to the intent of the user and present it as if true and factual.
Be prepared to starting hearing and reading about this with increasing frequency—including in discussions of how AI researchers still don’t fully understand how it happens. LLM
abbreviation. Computers. large language model: a type of machine learning algorithm trained on extremely large data sets of existing language and designed to generate new, naturalistic responses to prompts.
PP
