The controversial global trend of manifesting your desires has earned "Manifest" the title of Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2024.
The term was searched nearly 1,30,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website, making it one of the most viewed words of the year.
The term "manifest" has transitioned from being popular in the self-help community and on social media to becoming the most widely adopted word in mainstream media and beyond.
It was further turned into a fad by celebrities like singer Dua Lipa, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, and England striker Ollie Watkins, who have spoken about manifesting their success in 2024.
The term first gained significant attention during the pandemic and has continued to grow in popularity, particularly on social media platforms TikTok and others, where millions of posts and videos featuring the hashtag #manifest can be found.
Contenders for Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year? Here's a list
1) Brat: A child, especially one who behaves badly
“Brat” went viral in the summer of 2024 thanks to pop artist Charli XCX’s album of the same name about non-conformist women who reject the narrow and established female identity as portrayed on social media.
2) Demure: Quiet and well-behaved
Influencer Jools Lebron’s satirical use of “demure” in a TikTok post mocking stereotypical femininity drove lookups in the Cambridge Dictionary.
3) Goldilocks: Used to describe a situation in which something is or has to be exactly right
Example: Financial reporters characterised India’s strong growth and moderate inflation as a Goldilocks economy in early 2024.
4) Ecotarian: A person who only eats food produced or prepared in a way that does not harm the environment
This term rose in overall lookups in 2024, reflecting growing interest in environmentally conscious living.
Successors of 'Manifest'?
These are the words that Cambridge Dictionary began tracking in 2024
1) Quishing: The scam of phishing via QR code.
2) Resenteeism: To continue doing your job but resent it. This blend of “resent” and “absenteeism” appears in business journalism.
3) Gymfluencer: A social media influencer whose content is focused on fitness or bodybuilding.
4) Cocktail party problem (also cocktail party effect): The difficulty in focusing on one voice when there are multiple speakers in the room. This term from audiology is now being used with reference to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
5) Vampire: A vampire device or vampire appliance is one that uses energy even when not in use. This is a new, adjective sense of an existing word.
