‘Looksmaxxing’ And ’Copium’ Among 100s Of New Words Added To Major Dictionary

Ever heard of “looksmaxxing”? If you haven’t, your child might have – it’s an online term referring to the sometimes extreme pursuit of physical perfection.

Maybe you’ve been “Rickrolled”, or sent a link to Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video in disguise as a prank. To handle this humiliation, perhaps you’ll indulge in “copium”, or the “avoidance, denial, or minimisation” of a negative or embarrassing circumstance or situation.

These are all examples of the 1,400 new words and definitions recently added to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. The additions “reflect words and meanings that have demonstrated widespread use over time, offering a window into the world today,” the dictionary’s site reads. 

Why have these new words been added? 

Some of these fresh entries – AGI, short for “artificial general intelligence”, and “glow-up,” which means a “dramatic positive change in someone or something’s physical appearance” – feel quite zeitgeist-y. 

But Merriam-Webster said that it’s trying to avoid entering “flash in the pan” trends into their centuries-old publication.

Instead, the dictionary looks for words which meet three criteria: frequent, widespread, and meaningful use. 

That means additions have to be used often, over a sustained period of time. People from different industries and locations need to be able to recognise the word, and it has to have a useful meaning. 

Still, there is “no committee, no advocacy, no meetings for new word inclusion” for this edition. 

A suggestion can be denied but later admitted; time may prove or disprove its relevance.

What are some of the new words in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary?

Here are some of the new entries, as well as their meanings:

• Superfood – “a food...that is rich in nutrients”,
• Chili crisp – “a spicy, crunchy condiment made typically of oil, fried chili peppers, and often other aromatics”, 
• Cake pop – “a lollipop... made usually of a compressed ball of cake crumbs and icing”, 
• Cuffing season – “a time of the year when people who are not married or in a relationship begin looking for a short-term romantic partner to spend the colder months of the year with”, 
• Crashout – “a mental or emotional breakdown”, 
• Yacht rock – “a style of soft rock music originating in the 1970s and 1980s”,
• California sober – “recreational use of marijuana and/or alcohol combined with abstinence from other drugs”, 
• Shapewear – “tight-fitting undergarments designed to shape and smooth the body”, 
• Neckbeards – either “a socially awkward gamer or computer nerd” or “a misogynistic or ultraconservative Internet troll”, 
• Trash panda – raccoons, 
• Mandela effect – “the experience of many people having the same false memory”, 
• Vibe coding – “using an artificial intelligence system to generate computer code”, 
• AGI – stands for artificial general intelligence, 
• Uncanny valley – “feelings of unease or revulsion in response to the nearly but imperfectly lifelike quality of something”, 
• Promposal – “a creative and often elaborately or extravagantly staged request for someone to be one’s date for a prom”, 
• Parasocial – “a one-sided emotional connection with someone... whom one does not know personally”, 
• Meme coin – “an altcoin that is created typically as a humorous tribute to something... or someone... and that typically has no real utility”.

If you want to see how up-to-date your slang knowledge is, read our Gen Z guide.

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