By Gabriela Baron
Merriam-Webster has named “Gaslighting” as its Word of the Year for 2022.
According to the dictionary, “gaslighting” is defined as “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.”
Lookups for the word on Merriam-Webster.com went up to 1,740% in 2022 over the year before.
“In the recent years, with the vast increase in channels and technologies used to mislead, gaslighting has become the favored word for the perception of deception,” Merriam-Webster wrote on its website.
“This is why it has earned its place as our Word of the Year.”
Meanwhile, the dictionary also noted that lookups for the word “oligarchs” also spiked 621% in early March, attributing the rise with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The United States and the United Kingdom placed sanctions on Russian oligarchs and their families.
Also included in Merriam-Webster’s top 9 most searched words are: “Omicron,” “Codify,” “LGBTQIA,” “Sentient,” “Loamy,” “Raid,” and “Queen Consort.” –ag
