[ Aditi Khanna ]
LONDON, 1 Dec: Rage bait, or online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage, was on Monday named the word of the year by Oxford University Press (OUP), the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The OUP said the term is a noun which describes online content that is designed to be frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.
It found that the word has increased threefold in usage in the last 12 months, based on its language monitoring data.
“The fact that the word rage bait exists and has seen such a dramatic surge in usage means we’re increasingly aware of the manipulation tactics we can be drawn into online,” said Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages at OUP.
“Before, the internet was focused on grabbing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it, hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.
“It feels like the natural progression in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in a tech-driven world – and the extremes of online culture,” he said.
The linguist pointed out that while the 2024 word of the year ‘brain rot’ captured the mental drain of endless scrolling, the 2025 choice shines a light on the content purposefully engineered to spark outrage and drive clicks.
“Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted. These words don’t just define trends; they reveal how digital platforms are reshaping our thinking and behaviour,” he added.
The OUP’s choice for the year followed three days of online voting in which more than 30,000 people had their say.
“With 2025’s news cycle dominated by social unrest, debates about the regulation of online content, and concerns over digital wellbeing, our experts noticed that the use of rage bait this year has evolved to signal a deeper shift in how we talk about attention – both how it is given and how it is sought after – engagement, and ethics online,” the publisher noted.
Rage bait is a compound of the words rage, meaning a violent outburst of anger, and bait, an attractive morsel of food.
Although a close parallel to the etymologically related clickbait, rage bait has a more specific focus on “evoking anger, discord, and polarisation.”
“The emergence of rage bait as a standalone term highlights both the flexibility of the English language, where two established words can be combined to give a more specific meaning in a particular context – in this case, online – and come together to create a term that resonates with the world we live in today,” the OUP states.
The other words on the 2025 shortlist included aura farming, or the cultivation of an impressive, attractive or charismatic persona or public image by behaving or presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.
The verb biohack – to attempt to improve or optimise one’s physical or mental performance, health, longevity or wellbeing by altering one’s diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle or by using other means such as drugs, supplements, or technological devices – was also in the running.
The top three contenders were put to a public vote on social media to help OUP’s language experts make a final decision. (PTI)
