Ever since the American dictionary Merriam-Webster announced the word of the year as 'Gaslighting', the internet is buzzing with reports on it. But actually, what do we know about it? As far as this writer goes, only when a colleague uttered the word out of the blue one fine day did I search for it. Little did I know that this word will make headlines one day. Whether it is politics or the medical field, everywhere this word has secured its spot in one or the other ways in recent years.
A driver of disorientation and mistrust, the word gaslighting saw a 1740% increase in lookups with high interest throughout the year 2022, said the dictionary's official website. Its origin can be traced back to a 1938 play and movie by British novelist and playwright Patrick Hamilton. His play Gas Light is a thriller which is a dark tale of a marriage based on deceit and trickery.
On Monday, November 28, Merriam-Webster's Editor Peter Sokolowski said, “It's (gaslighting) a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us." Furthermore, he added, “It was a word looked up frequently every single day of the year.” He pointed out that 'gaslighting' spent all of 2022 in the top 50 words looked up on Merriam-Webster's website to earn the top word of the year status, as stated in a report by Hindustan Times.
How is the word defined by the American dictionary? What other words were added to the 2022 list? And what about the top words of previous years? #WhatTheFAQ is here to throw light on all these aspects.
How does the American dictionary define the 2022 word?
The American dictionary defines 'Gaslighting' in two ways:
- "psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator"
- "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage"
What other words were looked up frequently this year?
Some of the words which were looked up the most in 2022 are oligarch, Omicron, codify, LGBTQIA, sentient, loamy, raid and Queen Consort.
What were the top words from the previous years?
As per merriam-webster.com, these are the word of the year, from 2021 to 2010.
2021: Vaccine
2020: Pandemic
2019: They
2018: Justice
2017: Feminism
2016: Surreal
2015: -ism
2014: Culture
2013: Science
2012: Socialism + Capitalism
2011: Pragmatic
2010: Austerity
Moreover, word of the year differs for different dictionaries. For instance, the Oxford English Dictionary has a different set of words as their word of the year.
How is the word picked?
In Merriam-Webster editor Peter Sokolowski's view, they look at the search results, the data obtained via their website at merriam-webster.com. He said that abstract words like integrity, paradigm, pragmatic, ubiquitous and democracy were looked up.
When did this annual announcement come out?
Although the dictionary has been working to find out the word of the year for several years, their perspective towards this action changed in 1997 with the death of Princess Diana. They found that "the top lookups of that day reflected the news of the day," said Peter in a podcast on their website. During this time, princess and the word paparazzi were the most looked up words which made them feel "this is a measure of the public's curiosity at a given moment in real-time."
Following this, after a few years, the American dictionary decided to start the annual word of the year announcement.
