Rage bait defined as online content designed to elicit anger by being frustrating, provocative was named word of the year by Oxford.

Beating out contenders like “aura farming” and “biohack.”

Oxford University Press (OUP), which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), has named “rage bait” as its word of the year for 2025

And, this year, that weight falls upon us like online fury: Rage bait is its word of the year, beating "aura farming" to the punch.

The term "rage bait" has been chosen as Oxford's Word of the Year for 2025, reflecting the rise of outrage-driven online content. It beat contenders "aura farming" and "biohack" in a public vote.

The word refers to social media posts which are deliberately controversial, provocative or misinformed in order to drive engagement through angry reactions.

Get latest articles and stories on Entertainment at LatestLY. The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 has been announced as "rage bait," the Oxford University Press confirmed on Monday. Entertainment News | 'Rage Bait' Named Oxford Word of the Year 2025.

Rage bait goes back at least to 2002, when it appeared in a post on a Usenet discussion group. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

It has become an increasingly common slang term for an attention-seeking form of online behaviour. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The phrase - meaning to get angry scrolling through social media - beats aura farming and biohack to the title.

Oxford University Press has chosen “rage bait” — defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive” — as its 2025 Word of the Year.