The Oxford word of the year for 2025 is out, and it’s bound to spark some anger.
This year’s pick is “rage bait,” defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.”
“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,” Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said. “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.”
He adds, “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.”
According to Oxford, rage bait was first used online in 2002 “to designate a particular type of driver reaction to being flashed at by another driver requesting to pass them.” The term has grown so much that, with over 30,000 people chiming in, it beat out “aura farming” and “biohack” to earn the word of the year designation.
“Year after year, it’s incredible to see the campaign spark curiosity, conversation, and—most importantly—participation,” Grathwohl says. “The Oxford Word of the Year invites us to pause and reflect on the forces shaping our collective language. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings.”