Rage bait has been named as the word of the year by the Oxford University Press.
It is a term that describes manipulative tactics used to drive engagement online, with usage of it increasing threefold in the last 12 months, according to the dictionary publisher.
Oxford gives this official definition: (n.) 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.
Here's what OxfordUniversity Press had to say about this result: "After three days of voting in which more than 30,000 people had their say, we have chosen rage bait as our official Oxford Word of the Year for 2025.
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."
When asked the crfucial question - isn't rage bait techincally two words? Oxford has a clever answer: "We’re not rage baiting you by choosing two words—though that would be in keeping with the meaning of the term!
The Oxford Word of the Year can be a singular word or expression, which our lexicographers think of as a single unit of meaning.
Rage bait is a compound of the words rage, meaning a violent outburst of anger, and bait, an attractive morsel of food. Both terms are well-established in English and date back to Middle English times. Although a close parallel to the etymologically related clickbait, rage bait has a more specific focus on evoking anger, discord, and polarization.
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."
Rage bait beat two other shortlisted terms - aura farming and biohack - to win the title.
Here's a comprenhensive list of Oxford's previous Words of the Year.
2024: brain rot
2023: rizz
2022: goblin mode
2021: vax
2020: Words of an Unprecedented Year (lack of one word)
2019: climate emergency
