NEW YORK (AP) 91Ƶ 91ƵGaslighting91Ƶ 91Ƶ behavior that91Ƶs mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful 91Ƶ is Merriam-Webster91Ƶs word of the year.
Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn91Ƶt a single event that drove significant spikes in curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.
The gaslighting was pervasive.
91ƵIt91Ƶs 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,91Ƶ said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster91Ƶs editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday91Ƶs unveiling.
91ƵIt was a word looked up frequently every single day of the year,91Ƶ he said.
There were deepfakes and the dark web. There were deep states and fake news. And there was a whole lot of trolling.
Merriam-Webster91Ƶs top definition for gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that 91Ƶcauses 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 one91Ƶs emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.91Ƶ
More broadly, the dictionary defines the word thusly: 91ƵThe act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one91Ƶs own advantage.91Ƶ
Gaslighting is a heinous tool frequently used by abusers in relationships 91Ƶ and by politicians and other newsmakers. It can happen between romantic partners, within a broader family unit and among friends. It can be a corporate tactic, or a way to mislead the public. There91Ƶs also 91Ƶmedical gaslighting,91Ƶ when a health care professional dismisses a patient91Ƶs symptoms or illness as 91Ƶall in your head.91Ƶ
Despite its relatively recent prominence 91Ƶ including 91ƵGaslighter,91Ƶ The Chicks91Ƶ 2020 album featuring the rousingly angry titular single 91Ƶ the word was brought to life more than 80 years ago with 91ƵGas Light,91Ƶ a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton.
It birthed two film adaptations in the 1940s. One, George Cukor91Ƶs 91ƵGaslight91Ƶ in 1944, starred Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist and Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton. The two marry after a whirlwind romance and Gregory turns out to be a champion gaslighter. Among other instances, he insists her complaints over the constant dimming of their London townhouse91Ƶs gaslights is a figment of her troubled mind. It wasn91Ƶt.
The death of Angela Lansbury in October drove some interest in lookups of the word, Sokolowski said. She played Nancy Oliver, a young maid hired by Gregory and told not to bother his 91Ƶhigh-strung91Ƶ wife.
The term gaslighting was later used by mental health practitioners to clinically describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships.
91ƵThere is this implication of an intentional deception,91Ƶ Sokolowski said. 91ƵAnd once one is aware of that deception, it91Ƶs not just a straightforward lie, as in, you know, I didn91Ƶt eat the cookies in the cookie jar. It91Ƶs something that has a little bit more devious quality to it. It has possibly an idea of strategy or a long-term plan.91Ƶ
Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based solely on data. Sokolowski and his team weed out evergreen words most commonly looked up to gauge which word received a significant bump over the year before.
They don91Ƶt slice and dice why people look up words, which can be anything from quick spelling and definition checks to some sort of attempt at inspiration or motivation. Some of the droves who looked up 91Ƶgaslighting91Ƶ this year might have wanted to know, simply, if it91Ƶs one or two words, or whether it91Ƶs hyphenated.
91ƵGaslighting,91Ƶ Sokolowski said, spent all of 2022 in the top 50 words looked up on merriam-webster.com to earn top dog word of the year status. Last year91Ƶs pick was 91Ƶvaccine.91Ƶ Rounding out this year91Ƶs Top 10 are:
91Ƶ 91ƵOligarch,91Ƶ driven by Russia91Ƶs invasion of Ukraine.
91Ƶ 91ƵOmicron,91Ƶ the persistent COVID-19 variant and the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.
91Ƶ 91ƵCodify,91Ƶ as in turning abortion rights into federal law.
91Ƶ 91ƵQueen consort,91Ƶ what King Charles91Ƶ wife, Camilla is newly known as.
91Ƶ 91ƵRaid,91Ƶ as in the search of former President Donald Trump91Ƶs Mar-a-Lago home.
91Ƶ 91ƵSentient,91Ƶ with lookups brought on by Google canning the engineer who claimed an unreleased AI system had become sentient.
91Ƶ 91ƵCancel culture,91Ƶ enough said.
91Ƶ 91ƵLGBTQIA,91Ƶ for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual, aromantic or agender.
91Ƶ 91ƵLoamy,91Ƶ which many Wordle users tried back in August, though the right word that day was 91Ƶclown.91Ƶ
91ƵĔĔ
By Leanne Italie
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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