![“Polarization” is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 Word of the Year – NBC Chicago “Polarization” is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 Word of the Year – NBC Chicago](https://i1.wp.com/media.nbcchicago.com/2021/11/DICCIONARIO-MERRIAM-WEBSTER.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election have shaken the country and sent shockwaves across the world – or led to celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is “polarization”?
“Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” Merriam-Webster editor Peter Sokolowski said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press before Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means we tend toward the extremes rather than the center. »
The election was so divisive that many American voters went to the polls feeling like the opposing candidate posed an existential threat to the nation. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters were very or somewhat concerned that Donald Trump’s views — but not Harris’s — were too extreme, while that about 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same way. about Harris – but not Trump.
The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It is most often used to mean “to cause strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.” Merriam-Webster, which sees 100 million page views per month on its site, chooses its word of the year based on the database, tracking an increase in searches and usage.
Last year’s choice was “authentic.” This year, large swaths of the United States are struggling to reach consensus on what is real.
“It’s always been important to me that the dictionary serves as a sort of neutral, objective arbiter of meaning for everyone,” Sokolowski said. “It’s sort of a safety net for meaning in the age of fake news, alternative facts, whatever you want to say about the value of a word’s meaning in culture.”
It’s worth noting that “polarization” originated in the early 1800s — not the Renaissance, as is the case with most words of Latin origin regarding science, Sokolowski said. He called it “a fairly young word,” in the scheme of the English language. “Polarized is a term that gives intensity to another word,” he continued, most frequently used in the United States to describe race relations, politics and ideology.
“The fundamental job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words,” the Merriam-Webster editor continued. “We’ve had English dictionaries for 420 years and it’s only in the last 20 years or so that we actually know what words people are looking for.”
“Polarization” goes beyond political connotations. It is used to highlight new fissures and deep divides in pop culture, technology trends, and other industries.
All control over Taylor Swift’s use of private jet? Polarizing. Beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake? Polarizing. The decision of the International Olympic Committee to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal after the Paris Games? You guessed it: polarizing.
Even light-hearted memes – like those mocking Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s performance – or the proliferation of lookalike contests, or who counts as a baby nepo, have proven polarizing.
Paradoxically though, people tend to agree on the word itself. Sokolowski cited its frequent use among people across the political spectrum, including commentators from Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.
“It’s used by both sides,” he said, “and, in a bit of an ironic twist of the word, it’s something that everyone actually agrees on.”
To complete Merriam-Webster’s Top 10 Words of 2024:
Wise
Chicago-based Lebron Jools’ 38-second video describing her work makeup routine as “very demure, very conscious” lit up the summer with memes. The video has been viewed more than 50 million times, leading to “huge spikes” in searches, Sokolowski said, and leading many people to understand that it means reserved or modest.
Fifteen days
Taylor Swift’s song “Fortnight,” featuring rapper Post Malone, has undoubtedly sparked a lot of searches for the word, which means two weeks. “Music can still send people to the dictionary,” Sokolowski said.
Totality
April’s solar eclipse inspired wonder and much travel. Tens of millions of people live along a narrow strip from Mexico’s Pacific coast to eastern Canada, also known as the Path of Totality, where locals and travelers looked skyward for see the moon completely obliterate the sun. Generally, the word refers to an aggregate sum or amount – or all of it.
Resonate
“AI-developed texts contain a disproportionate percentage of use of the word ‘resonate,’” Sokolowski said. This may be because the word, which means to affect or attract someone in a personal or emotional way, can add gravitas to the writing. But, paradoxically, artificial intelligence “also turns out to be a robot because it uses that word too much.”
Allison
The word was viewed 60 times more often than usual when a ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore in March. “When you put a moving object into a stationary object, it’s an allison, not a collision. You demonstrate that one of the two objects struck was in fact not moving,” Sokolowski said.
Weird
This summer, on the television news show “Morning Joe,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Republican leaders “weird.” It may have been what launched his national career, allowing him to become the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Although it’s a word that people commonly misspell, is it “ei” or “ie”? — and that’s why its use has increased noticeably, Sokolowski said.
Cognitive
Whether the word was used to raise questions about President Joe Biden’s performance in the debates or Trump’s age, it came up often. It refers to conscious intellectual activity, such as thinking, reasoning, or memorizing.
Matchmaker
Pander has been widely used in political commentary, Sokolowski said. “Conservative media have accused Kamala Harris of pandering to different groups, particularly young voters, black voters and gun rights supporters.” While Walz said Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s kitchen flattered hourly workers. It means saying, doing, or providing what someone – such as an audience – wants or demands even if it is not “good, appropriate, reasonable, etc.” »
Democracy
In 2003, Merriam-Webster decided to make “democracy” its first word of the year. Since then, the word – which, of course, means a form of government in which the people elect representatives to make decisions, policies and laws – has consistently been one of the most searched for in the dictionary. “There’s something poignant about this, that people are checking out what’s happening,” Sokolowski said. “Perhaps the most encouraging thing that the public’s curiosity shows is that they are paying attention.”