play word of the year 2015 video
Words of the Year

2015 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about our Word of the Year selections.



The words people look up show our curiosity, and the lookups are just the beginning of reflection on and discussion of the topics that are on our minds.

See how we select our Word of the Year, along with the full list of words.

And get details about all the lookups, including the events that triggered them, at our Word of the Year Gallery.

Up next

play word of the year 2015 video
2015 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

Peter Sokolowski talks about the year's selections

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Hopefully

 

We believe the popular usage of this word is correct

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How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the others?

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Is It 'day today' or 'day-to-day'?

 

What about Day Tomorrow?

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How a Ghost Word Appeared in the Dictionary

 

An imaginary word that snuck into the dictionary

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Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

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The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.