logo
welcome
VOA

VOA

'Polarization' is Merriam-Webster's 2024 word of the year

VOA
Summary
Nutrition label

73% Informative

Merriam-Webster announces its word of the year for 2024 .

"Polarization" originated in the early 1800s , not during the Renaissance .

It's most commonly used to mean "causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings" The word is used to highlight fresh cracks and deep rifts alike in pop culture, tech trends.

The word was looked up 60 times more often than usual when a ship crashed into a bridge in March .

Pander was used widely in political commentary.

It refers to conscious intellectual activity such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering.

In 2003 , Merriam-Webster made "democracy" its first word of the year .

VR Score

83

Informative language

86

Neutral language

73

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

50

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

no external sources

Source diversity

no sources

Affiliate links

no affiliate links