Merriam-Webster has chosen slop as its 2025 Word of the Year, marking a shift in how people describe AI-generated content.
The dictionary defines slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
The flood of slop in 2025 included videos, advertising images, propaganda, fake news, AI-written books, “workslop” reports, and talking cats, according to Merriam-Webster.
‘Slop’ chosen as 2025 Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster dictionary
The Wall Street Journal warned AI Slop is Everywhere, whilst CNET reported AI Slop Has Turned Social Media Into an Antisocial Wasteland.
The word carries connotations similar to slime, sludge, and muck. In the 1700s, slop meant “soft mud.” By the 1800s, it referred to “food waste” and later “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value.”
Merriam-Webster noted: “In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking. The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t seem too superintelligent.”
Other words that defined 2025
Gerrymander
Throughout 2025, when Republicans and Democrats used redistricting to increase their electoral advantages, gerrymander became a term people searched for.
To gerrymander means to divide a state, school district, or other area into political units or election districts that give one group or political party an advantage.
The word comes from Elbridge Gerry, an American politician in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Gerry was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and vice president under James Madison. As governor of Massachusetts, he tried to change the shape of voting districts to help members of his political party get elected. His system resulted in districts with shapes that were irregular, including one that looked like a newt. Upon seeing a map of the divisions, a member of the opposing party drew feet, wings, and a head on Gerry’s district and said “That will do for a salamander!” Another member called out “Gerrymander!” The term stuck.
Touch Grass
The phrase touch grass means “to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions.”
The phrase is used for people who spend time online to the extent that they become disconnected from reality. Lookups spiked in September, after the murder of Charlie Kirk, when Utah Governor Spencer Cox spoke about the dangers of social media and urged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community.”
Though used as an insult, touch grass also became an aspiration for people who wanted to break their digital addiction. People magazine reported, “New App Will Block Users from ‘Mindless Scrolling’ Until They ‘Literally’ Touch Grass.”
Performative
The rise in lookups of performative resulted from the pervasiveness of what it describes rather than from any news item. Performative means “made or done for show (as to bolster one’s own image or make a positive impression on others).”
In 2025, things mocked as “performative” included politics, activism, wokeness, patriotism, and matcha. The phrase performative male was used to describe a man pursuing women by doing things those women probably like, such as carrying literature in a tote bag.
Tariff
In 2025, as President Trump began implementing the tariffs he had promised in his campaign, people following the news and debates wanted to understand what tariffs are.
Tariff refers to “a schedule of duties imposed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods.” The word entered English centuries ago, via Italian, and came from the Arabic word taʽrīf, meaning “notification.”
Six Seven
Six seven emerged as the Gen Alpha slang term of 2025. Meaning nothing in particular, and sometimes repeated in a sing-song voice, it tends to delight children and frustrate everyone else.
Six seven, or 6-7, comes from the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by rapper Skrilla, used in videos and memes featuring the NBA player LaMelo Ball, who is 6 feet 7 inches tall.
It is used as an interjection—a thing someone might chant, for no reason, after hearing the numbers 6 and 7.
Conclave
This word spiked in lookups after the death of Pope Francis in April, when Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world gathered at the Vatican to elect a successor. This meeting, called a conclave, is how popes have been selected since the 13th century.
The word conclave comes from the Latin conclave meaning “room that can be locked up.” It referred to the locked room where the cardinals nominate, debate, and vote in secret.
Before Pope Francis’s death, searches for the word were higher in 2025 due to the film Conclave, which features a version of the secret vote.
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
The name of this lake started appearing in the top lookups list on Merriam-Webster.com. In the Roblox game Spelling Bee, the lake’s name can be encountered in “Master Mode” or in “Charg Mode.” The New England attraction has an alternate name: Webster Lake.
