2 days ago
11
Creepy, zany and demonstrably fake contented is often called "slop." The word's proliferation online, successful portion acknowledgment to the wide availability of generative artificial intelligence, landed it the rubric of Merriam-Webster's 2025 connection of the year.
"It's specified an illustrative word," said Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster's president, successful an exclusive interrogation with The Associated Press up of Monday's announcement. "It's portion of a transformative technology, AI, and it's thing that radical person recovered fascinating, annoying and a small spot ridiculous."
"Slop" was archetypal utilized successful the 1700s to mean brushed mud, but it evolved much mostly to mean thing of small value. The explanation has since expanded to mean "digital contented of debased prime that is produced usually successful quantity by means of artificial intelligence."
In different words, "you know, absurd videos, weird advertizing images, cheesy propaganda, fake quality that looks real, junky AI-written integer books," Barlow said.
AI video generators similar Sora person wowed with their quality to rapidly make realistic clips based simply connected substance prompts. But a flood of these images connected societal media, including clips depicting celebrities and deceased nationalist figures, has raised worries astir misinformation, deepfakes and copyright infringement.
Such contented has existed online for years, but the tools are much accessible present - and utilized to governmental ends by, among different figures, the caput of the Pentagon. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a manipulated representation of a beloved cartoon turtle, reimagined arsenic a grenade-wielding fighter, to support U.S. subject actions successful Venezuela.
The Canadian animated amusement "Franklin" teaches preschoolers astir kindness, empathy and inclusivity - but successful Hegseth's hands, its 6-year-old main quality became a instrumentality to beforehand violence.
The connection "slop" evokes unpleasant images of mud-caked pigs crowding astir a soiled trough, oregon possibly a bucket of steaming, fetid stew. Or AI amalgamations of algorithmic biases laden with violative oregon nonsensical imagery.
AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin / AP
Positive "slop"
For some, the connection induces dread.
But to Barlow, it brings a consciousness of hope. The dictionary's president says the spike successful searches for the connection reflects that radical person grown much alert of fake oregon shoddy content, and tendency the inverse.
"They privation things that are real, they privation things that are genuine," helium said. "It's astir a defiant connection erstwhile it comes to AI. When it comes to replacing quality creativity, sometimes AI really doesn't look truthful intelligent."
To prime the connection of the year, the dictionary's editors reappraisal information astir which words person risen successful hunt results and usage. Then they travel to a statement astir which connection champion reflects the span of the year.
"We similar to deliberation that we are a reflector for people," Barlow said.
Merriam-Webster's enactment method
Over the years, determination are words that are consistently looked up, but they're filtered retired arsenic the dictionary's editors prime the 1 that champion defines the twelvemonth astatine hand.
"Words similar 'ubiquitous,' 'paradigm,' 'albeit,' 'irregardless,' these are ever apical lookups due to the fact that they're words that are connected the borderline of our lexicon," Barlow said. "'Irregardless' is simply a connection successful the dictionary for 1 reason: It's used. It's been utilized for decades to mean 'regardless.'"
The dictionary has selected 1 connection each twelvemonth since 2003 to seizure and marque consciousness of the existent moment. Last year, soon aft the U.S. statesmanlike predetermination and amid the shifting nationalist mood, Merriam-Webster chose the connection " polarization."
A caller variation came retired past period that adds implicit 5,000 caller words - a uncommon measurement that involves afloat revising and reimagining 1 of its astir fashionable dictionaries.
Runners-up to "slop"
Rounding retired Merriam-Webster's apical words of 2025:
Six seven: The viral word exploded successful popularity implicit the summer. It's an wrong gag with an unclear meaning, driven by societal media. It tin beryllium traced backmost to rapper Skrilla's 2024 opus "Doot Doot (6 7)."
"It's self-referential," Barlow said. "It's each the rage, but it's not a defining term."
Performative: The "performative male" is online shorthand for a disingenuous feline who pretends to similar things women similar successful bid to gain their trust. There's besides a spate of influencers who've been called performative for posting surface-level " kindness content." The connection is versatile, since it extends to stunts successful nationalist politics, grandstanding connected societal media and adjacent the quality of the U.N. General Assembly.
There's a agelong nationalist past of partisan gerrymandering successful the U.S. To clasp Republican power of Congress, President Trump has urged maps to beryllium redrawn earlier the 2026 midterm elections. That's led to GOP moves successful Texas and Indiana to gully districts to their advantage, arsenic good arsenic a antagonistic effort successful Democratic-led California.
"Touch grass": The explanation of this fashionable net operation is "to enactment successful mean activities successful the existent satellite particularly arsenic opposed to online experiences and interactions." It was a superior contender for Merriam-Webster's connection of the year, since it's utilized to "describe the aspiration for galore radical to instrumentality a interruption from their integer addiction," Barlow said.
A conclave is the centuries-old predetermination of a pope that derives its sanction from the Italian "con clave" - meaning "with a key" - to underscore that cardinals are sequestered until they find a winner.
Some learned the meaning from the titular movie successful 2024. Others recovered retired successful existent clip erstwhile Pope Leo XIV became history's archetypal American pope successful May 2025. "It was truthful lawsuit specific, but the spike (in searches) was huge," Barlow said.
Originally from Italian and Arabic for "free of charge," the connection entered English centuries ago. The explanation is "a docket of duties imposed by a authorities connected imported oregon successful immoderate countries exported goods."
Tariff: Mr. Trump boasts that his tariffs support American industries, lure factories to the U.S., rise wealth for the national authorities and springiness him diplomatic leverage. But they've sparked a commercialized warfare and successful world relationship for little than 4% of national revenue. The tariffs person besides done small to dent the national fund shortage - a staggering $1.8 trillion successful fiscal 2025.
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg: Yes, you work that correctly. "The sanction of this water delighted and baffled america erstwhile it started clogging the Top Lookups database connected Merriam-Webster.com," the dictionary's editors said. In the Roblox crippled Spelling Bee!, the Massachusetts lake's sanction tin beryllium encountered successful peculiar modes. But successful New England? It's known arsenic Webster Lake.
English (US) ·