The 2024 Word of the Year is Manifest
Cambridge Dictionary announced that its 2024 word of the year is manifest. This spiritual philosophy is gaining in popularity, In fact, manifest was looked up 130,000 times, making it the most viewed word of the year, according to a news release from the company.
This has all driven the popularity of the word. Wendalyn Nichols, publishing manager of the Cambridge Dictionary said in the news release: “When we choose a Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, we have three considerations: What word was looked up the most, or spiked? Which one really captures what was happening in that year? And what is interesting about this word from a language point of view?
A large part of this popularity is due to social media, especially on TikTok where millions of videos used the hashtag #manifest. Manifesting is even gained traction on mainstream media by celebrities that include singer Dua Lipa, England striker Ollie Watkins and Olympic sprinter Gabby Thomas; who have all spoken openly about their successes.
Lipa has talked about how she believes manifesting has played a role in her success, reported CNN. “If you set an intention and you think about it every single day of your life, and for me, Glastonbury for example, when I first started making music I dreamed about the day that I would get asked to headline Glastonbury,” she told CNN.
What is manifesting?
So what exactly is manifesting? First off, manifesting is not a new phenomenon. Rather, it is the idea that you can think or believe a goal into becoming a reality, according to Psychology Today. But it is not magic or wishful thinking.
Much like positive affirmations, manifesting at its core represents the belief that your thoughts can affect the external world. Thinking positive thoughts can make something positive happen.
The word manifest has its roots in Latin and French originally meant to show something clearly and later morphed into making something happen by intention, according to CNN. The concept started to grow during the pandemic and was officially added to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2023 due to its growing usage.
New emerging words
The dictionary added in 2024 includes quishing, which is a phishing scam that uses the QR code, according to the dictionary’s news release, or resentism which means that you continue doing your job but resent it. Other new words include gymfluencer and vampire.
While manifest was the most looked-up word, there were other contenders that include brat ( a misbehaved child), which went viral in the summer of 2024, demure (quiet and well behaved), Goldilocks (something that must be exact, and ecotarian (a person who only eats food that does not harm the environment). While all of these words have merit, the positivity of manifest, made it a clear winner this year!
