Trend Watch

Solipsistic

Critics of Obama's new policies say the president's focus is ...

When:

Lookups spiked on January 21, 2015.

Why:

Following President Obama's State of the Union speech, many words were used in analysis, argument, and fact-checking. The word most looked up in the dictionary was solipsism.

Solipsism means "a theory in philosophy that your own existence is the only thing that is real or that can be known" or "extreme egocentrism." Critics of the speech used the word (and its adjective, solipsistic) to assert that the President referred to his own policy ideas to the exclusion of other important issues facing the country.

Solipsism comes from combining the Latin words meaning "alone" and "self."


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