Just because a slang term is popping up all over social media or being used in real life, doesn’t mean it automatically gets added to the dictionary. For a word to be added to the pages (or web pages) of a dictionary, it has to demonstrate staying power. Many new expressions drop out of use before a lexicographer takes note, but some popular colloquialisms (such as “baller, “cromulent,” and “fluffernutter”) have successfully achieved the ranks of lexicographical immortality. Words that get added to the dictionary aren’t always new bits of slang, of course; they might be words used in news headlines or terms coined in the entertainment industry. Let’s take a look at some of the neologisms (new words) that have entered the annals of American English in recent years.
“Baller” gained a new usage on its definition in the year 2022, thanks to Merriam-Webster. As an informal slang term, “baller” describes something “excellent, exciting, or extraordinary,” especially relating to a lavish lifestyle, as in, “It was clear from his frequent trips on his private jet that the actor lived a baller lifestyle.” This usage of “baller” traces back to 2003, but its oldest usage, which denotes an athlete who plays a sport involving a ball, has been around since 1586.
The word “cringe” is nothing new; the verb form, describing an act of recoiling out of distaste or fear, has been around since the 13th century. More recently, however, “cringe” has turned into an adjective and was awarded a new definition in 2022. This usage redefines it as a slang term synonymous with “embarrassing” or “awkward,” as in, “That first kiss scene was so cringe!”
On February 18, 1996, the word “cromulent” appeared during an airing of The Simpsons in the episode “Lisa the Iconoclast.” In one scene, teachers are talking about the word “embiggen” — another made-up word that was added to the dictionary by Merriam-Webster back in 2018. One teacher says to the other, “[Embiggen is] a perfectly cromulent word,” thus establishing “cromulent” to mean “fine or acceptable.” After decades of being quoted by Simpsons fans, “cromulent” was formally added to the dictionary in September 2023.
Forget about chiseled abs and rippling biceps — dad bods are all the rage. The phrase describes a physique that lacks muscular definition and tends to have a bit of a belly. “Dad bod” can be used to describe bodies regardless of the person’s familial status, but it often describes a type of man who was perhaps more physically fit in his youth before his body changed around the time people usually have kids. The expression was reportedly coined in 2003, though it took 18 years for the word to be formally enshrined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It has its uses, such as, “My dad bod appreciates wearing shorts to work from home instead of suits to the office,” but always tread carefully in commenting on anyone’s appearance.
The term “deepfake” is a neologism that was coined in 2018, and then formally added to the dictionary two years later. The word refers to photos or videos that have been manipulated in an effort to misrepresent the subject. In essence, people use advanced digital editing technology to create content that tricks the public. For example, a video might show a politician saying something shocking, even though they never said it in real life. One potential use of the word could be, “Did you see that deepfake of Tom Hanks? It was really convincing, but I knew he wouldn’t actually say that.”
“Faux-hawks” are nothing new, as the hairstyle trend dates back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the term was first knowingly coined. But it wasn’t until 2021 that the term was officially added to the dictionary with a definition describing a hairstyle featuring a “central ridge of upright hair but with the sides gathered.” Essentially, faux-hawks look like mohawks, only without the added risk of shaving the sides of your head and immediately regretting it. People use the term in sentences such as, “Did you see his faux-hawk? He looks really good!”
It may not be part of a well-balanced diet, but a fluffernutter is one of the most decadent sandwiches imaginable. This gooey treat — said to have been invented by Massachusetts resident Emma Curits in 1918 — contains marshmallow spread and peanut butter slathered between slices of white bread. However, the name “fluffernutter” wasn’t technically coined until an advertising campaign for Marshmallow Fluff in the 1960s, and it wasn’t recorded in the dictionary until 2021.
Love ’em or hate ’em, “jorts” are here to stay, solidified by Merriam-Webster’s inclusion of the plural noun in the dictionary in 2023. This bold — and sometimes regrettable — fashion trend is simply a pair of shorts made of denim, as if you cut a pair of jeans off above the knee. They gained popularity amid the 1960s counterculture movement, and now future generations will remain aware of the power of jorts.
The world of professional wrestling is full of terms such as “face” and “heel,” which are used respectively to describe good and evil wrestlers. But in 2023, a unique wrestling industry term was officially enshrined in the dictionary: “kayfabe.” This word means “a tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events… are genuine.” There are a few theories on the origin of the term, one being a Pig Latin-esque version of “fake,” but “kayfabe” has been common parlance in wrestling circles since the 1980s. Now you can be in the know and say things like, “I know pro wrestling is scripted, but believing in kayfabe makes it fun.”
This 2022 buzzword describes an environment of multiple virtual realities that are individualized for each user. At the end of 2021, the social-media supergiant Facebook rebranded itself as “Meta,” both reinforcing the notion of the metaverse and further solidifying the word’s legitimacy in English, eventually landing it a spot in the dictionary. The secondary definition of “metaverse” is used in the field of cosmology in a similar way to refer to the hypothetical combination of all universes.
Video games and apps are full of “microtransactions,” which are “online transactions involving a small amount of currency.” If you download a game or an app, odds are, the developer will make additional features available for purchase. This includes new virtual outfits, stat boosts, in-game shortcuts, extra lives, and more. The term first reared its head in 1995, and today is often used by frustrated gamers who may exclaim, “I wish I could just play the game and stop being inundated with all these microtransactions.”
If you’ve noticed less cereal in your bag, you aren’t alone, and you’re a victim of “shrinkflation.” This phenomenon involves reducing the volume (or amount) of a product per unit without lowering the price. In the case of many consumer goods, buyers are paying the same price for less of an item. The snappy word — a portmanteau of “shrink” and “inflation” — was first coined in 2013 before being added to the dictionary in 2022.
