Oxford University Press names word or phrase of year 2025

Oxford University Press has selected “rage bait” as its 2025 Word of the Year, highlighting growing concern over emotionally manipulative content on social media. Usage of the term has tripled in the past year, beating shortlisted contenders “aura farming” and “biohack.”

Rage bait refers to online posts deliberately crafted to provoke anger or outrage. Oxford University Press defines it as content “designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive,” typically to boost traffic or engagement. It is considered a more targeted form of clickbait, with a specific emphasis on making users angry, BBC writes. 

The other shortlisted terms reflect broader digital-era behaviours. Aura farming describes the cultivation of an attractive or mysterious public persona, while biohack refers to attempts to optimise physical or mental performance through lifestyle changes, supplements, or technology.

Public voting helped guide OUP’s final decision. Explaining the choice, Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl said:

"The fact that the word rage bait exists and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage means we're increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online." He added that online culture has shifted from attention-grabbing curiosity to emotional influence: "Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we've seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond."

Grathwohl noted that the trend aligns with recent Word of the Year selections, including “brain rot” in 2024.

"Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted," he said.

Oxford’s previous winners include selfie, goblin mode, and rizz.

Other major dictionaries have also announced their 2025 choices: the Cambridge Dictionary selected parasocial, describing one-sided relationships people feel toward celebrities, while the Collins Dictionary chose vibe coding, meaning the creation of apps or websites by describing them to AI instead of manually programming.

By Sabina Mammadli