‘Rage bait’ named Oxford University Press word of year as outrage fuels social media traffic in 2025

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LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.

The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.

“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”

Rage bait topped two other contenders — “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’ — after public comment on a shortlist compiled by lexicographers at Oxford University Press.

“Aura farming’’ means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.’’ “Biohack’’ is defined as “an attempt to improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.’’

The word of the year is selected by lexicographers at Oxford University Press who analyze new and emerging words, as well as changes in the way language is being used, to identify words of “cultural significance.”

Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has selected a word of the year annually since 2004.

Past winners include “podcast” in 2005, “emoji” in 2015, and in 2022 “goblin mode,” which described people who resisted returning to normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.