Merriam-Webster's word of the year is a beacon of hope after an eventful 2017
It's that time of the year again when online dictionaries declare their Word of the Year which is usually the perfect commentary to look back at the past 12 months with renewed insight.
This year, "feminism" ranked first in the Merriam-Webster selection, beating "complicit" which Dictionary.com picked as their Word of the Year.
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According to Peter Sokolowski, the company's editor-at-large, searches for the term "feminism" on the dictionary's site increased 70% in 2017 compared to the previous year.
They spiked after key events such as the Women's March on Washington DC and other U.S. and international cities in January; Kellyanne Conway's interview in which she said she doesn't consider herself a feminist; the release of Hulu's series The Handmaid's Tale and the film Wonder Woman; the rise of the #MeToo movement, which was the basis behind Time magazine's Person of the Year.
Merriam-Webster defines "feminism" as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes” and “organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.”
"The word feminism was being used in a kind of general way," Sokolowski told The Associated Press. "The feminism of this big protest, but it was also used in a kind of specific way: What does it mean to be a feminist in 2017? Those kinds of questions are the kinds of things, I think, that send people to the dictionary."
Here are the other runners-up:
Complicit -- Dictionary.com's Word of the year
Recuse -- in reference to Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Empathy -- one of the top lookups throughout the year
Dotard -- word used by Kim Jong-Un to describe Donald Trump
Syzygy -- during the Great American Eclipse
Gyro -- after a sketch from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Federalism -- during the Affordable Care Act passage
Hurricane -- during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria
Gaffe -- in February, during the Academy Awards
