Oxford University Press chooses ‘rage bait’ as word of year 2025

By Kanyshai Butun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Oxford University Press has chosen “rage bait” as the word of the year 2025, which refers to "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger by being provocative," typically posted to increase traffic on the web.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word usage has increased threefold in the last 12 months.

Rage bait is a compound of the words rage, meaning a violent outburst of anger, and bait, an attractive morsel of food.

President of the Oxford Languages Division Casper Grathwohl noted that usage of this word shows greater awareness of rising online manipulation tactics.

“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 said.

Grathwohl underlined that the chosen word reveals how digital platforms are reshaping people’s thinking and behavior.