Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year Is 69 Years Old

The Cambridge Dictionary has selected "parasocial" as its 2025 word of the year, highlighting the growing trend of people feeling personal connections with celebrities, fictional characters, and even artificial intelligence—despite never having met them. The term, in academic use since it was coined in 1956, is defined as "involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence."

But the word is only now gaining mainstream attention, according to Colin McIntosh, who manages the Cambridge Dictionary's lexical program. He notes that the dictionary's website has seen spikes in searches for the word, reflecting widespread curiosity and participation in parasocial relationships. A recent example cited is the public reaction to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement, which saw fans celebrating as if they were personally involved in the couple's lives, CBS News reports.

While these one-sided bonds can seem harmless, Simone Schnall, a social psychology professor at the University of Cambridge, warns that they can sometimes become unhealthy—especially when directed at influencers. She points out that such relationships are entirely one-sided, yet can inspire intense loyalty and trust. The phenomenon is also expanding to include interactions with AI, as people increasingly treat tools like ChatGPT as friends or quasi-therapists. Per CNN, other words highlighted by the dictionary as having a "significant impact" this year include "slop" (low-quality online content, particularly AI-generated content) and "memeify" (to turn something into a meme).

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Collins Dictionary is also out with its word of the year, or in this case, phrase of the year: It's "vibe coding." As Mashable explains, it's a type of coding in which "coders" don't code, but rather describe what they want to make (think apps, software, and other tools) to an artificial intelligence and let the AI do the work. (Dictionary.com recently named "67" as its word of the year.)