Rage Bait Takes Word of the Year
As the year comes to an end, it’s basically Super Bowl season for dictionaries. Think of this as the 2025 Word of the Year Wrapped. Oxford has officially chosen rage bait for 2025, Cambridge University selected parasocial, and Dictionary.com named the numeric slang term 6-7. Each choice tells you something about the world we live in online, and yes, it is very much a reflection of internet culture.
So did Oxford choose the right word? In a depressing way, yeah. Anyone who has spent time online this year has seen how quickly anger spreads and how easily people are drawn into content designed to provoke them. According to Oxford Languages, the word has tripled in usage over the past year as social media algorithms reward provocation and outrage.
“Rage bait already feels like the word of the year because so many people don’t actually have anything to say, they just want a reaction. It’s awkward, forced, and everywhere, especially with our generation.” Said sophomore Ambrosio Riostabares
Last year’s Word of the Year was brain rot, and this year’s is rage bait, which makes me wonder what tragic direction we are heading in next. Together, these two terms paint a bleak picture of online behavior. From mental exhaustion to deliberate emotional manipulation, the trajectory suggests that digital culture is becoming less thoughtful and more reaction driven with each passing year.
Oxford’s explanation makes sense, though. The organization describes rage bait as a reflection of how platforms have shifted from capturing attention to exploiting emotions. It is not just clickbait anymore. It is an engineered reaction. Engineered rage. And honestly, that is exactly what scrolling feels like: constant emotional ambush.
“What has the world come to when rage bait is Oxford’s Word of the Year? We are finished as a society,” X user damndrop wrote.
Oxford’s pick is not the only one telling a story. Cambridge University’s choice of parasocial highlights the growing influence of one-sided relationships with celebrities and influencers. The term gained traction during coverage of Taylor Swift’s engagement, when fans and media blurred the line between genuine connection and perceived intimacy.
Meanwhile, Dictionary.com’s selection of 6-7 reflects how quickly slang evolves among Gen Z and alpha. The term’s meaning shifts depending on context, making it difficult to define for a general audience. Its inclusion underscores how internet language can spread widely while remaining inaccessible to those outside niche online spaces.
“When you hear Oxford, you think prestige, not internet drama. Rage bait being Word of the Year makes it feel like everything online is just anger all around us.” said junior Crystal Molina
Taken together, these Words of the Year do more than label trends. They expose how deeply online spaces now shape emotion, identity, and public discourse. Rage bait, parasocial, and 6-7 are not just reflections of language, but evidence of how the internet influences what people value, believe, and respond to in real time.
If Words of the Year are meant to capture the spirit of a moment, then 2025’s selections reveal a culture driven by reaction, connection without boundaries, and language that evolves faster than it can be defined. The words may change next year, but it is clear that the digital forces behind them are clearly here to stay.
