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‘Polarization’ Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2024

The winning word beat out finalists such as “demure,” “pander,” “totality,” “fortnight,” “allision” and “democracy”

Daily Correspondent

December 9, 2024

Following a contentious presidential election, Merriam-Webster has chosen its word of the year for 2024: “polarization.”

The American dictionary publisher announced its selection today, defining the term as “division into two sharply distinct opposites.” However, as Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, tells the Associated Press’ Anna Furman, the word suggests a “very specific kind of division.”

“Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center,” he says.

Merriam-Webster chooses each word of the year based on lookup data—how often a word was searched in its online dictionary. Last year, the winning word was “authentic,” while “gaslighting” claimed the title in 2022. Meanwhile, the words of the year in 2021 and 2020 were “vaccine” and “pandemic,” respectively.

“The basic job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words,” Sokolowski tells the AP. “We’ve had dictionaries of English for 420 years, and it’s only been in the last 20 years or so that we’ve actually known which words people look up.”

The data offers a glimpse into the ideas that are gaining traction in American culture. Per the announcement, this year’s top word reflects “the desire of Americans to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.”

Some of Merriam-Webster’s other contenders for 2024 included “demure” (popularized by TikTok videos), “totality” (linked to the total solar eclipse), “fortnight” (the title of a Taylor Swift song) and “allision” (used to describe the Baltimore bridge collapse).

“Polar” derives from the Latin word polaris, which refers to the North and South Poles. Meanwhile, the verb “polarize” was first used in a scientific journal in 1811, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

In the centuries that followed, “polarization” took on new meanings. It’s sometimes used to describe non-political divides, but it’s “most frequently used in the U.S. to describe race relations, politics and ideology,” per the AP.

Idealistic differences between political parties often feel insurmountable, as the Washington Post’s Shadi Hamid wrote in a column in October. “People have fundamentally different conceptions of what is right, true and good,” he wrote. Polarization “isn’t just a phase. It’s now our default setting.”

As Sokolowski tells the AP, the dictionary is meant to act as a universally “neutral and objective arbiter of meaning.” When it comes to the word “polarization,” most people seem to agree about its definition. Major news outlets across the political spectrum have used the word to reflect on American politics, especially during this year’s presidential election.

“Polarization was widely used to describe America in 2024,” says Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster’s president, in the announcement. “Ironically, it’s a concept that is shared by both sides of the political divide.”