If in mid-November the Cambridge Dictionary had chosen “parasocial” as the word of the year 2025, the Oxford English Dictionary relaunches and chooses “rage bait” as the word of the year, the use of which has tripled in the last twelve months. Taking the exact definition from the well-known British dictionary, the term is used for those online contents that are created specifically to provoke anger or indignation through provocative or offensive elements, with the aim of increasing engagement and traffic to one’s social profile (this also applies to a Youtube channel or a web page). If this word creates havoc and confusion online, according to the press office of the University of Oxford, in reality it is an important phenomenon because it is capable of “shaping debates on politics, identity and disinformation”.
Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl said:
The fact that the term “rage bait” exists and has seen such a drastic surge in its usage means that we are increasingly aware of the manipulative tactics we can be engaging in online. Before, the Internet focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we have seen a drastic change, causing it to hijack and influence our emotions and how we react. It seems like the natural evolution of an ongoing debate about what it means to be human in a world dominated by technology and the extremes of online culture.
The term does not differ much from the more well-known “clickbait”, which is used for the titles of articles designed specifically to entice readers to open them, aiming at their belly.
The word of the year was chosen by the University based on an online vote on its website, and prevailing over “aura farming” (literally “accumulating aura”), an expression that describes doing things in such a way as to appear cool without too much effort, and “biohack”, a verb that indicates efforts to improve one’s body or biological functions through techniques, habits or technological tools.
Last year, however, the Oxford Dictionary chose “brain rot” as the word of the year (literally the “brain rot” we feel when the brain is overloaded with “empty” contents that do not provide authentic stimuli), and it was actually one of the most cited words of 2024 and also of 2025.
