Merriam-Webster revealed on Tuesday that its word of the year for 2017 is « feminism, » a buzzword that has factored into prominent political and cultural debates over the course of the year.
A Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is displayed in a bookstore / Getty
BY: Katelyn Caralle Follow
@Katelyn_Caralle December 12,2017 12:59 pm
Merriam-Webster revealed on Tuesday that its word of the year for 2017 is « feminism, » a buzzword that has factored into prominent political and cultural debates over the course of the year.
Searches for « feminism » on the Merriam-Webster website increased by 70 percent from 2016 and spiked several times after key events, according to Peter Sokolowski, the company’s editor at large.
The Associated Press first reported Merriam-Webster’s choice for word of the year before the company made the official announcement .
The Women’s March on Washington, which followed President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, Hillary Clinton’s run for president, and the #MeToo movement in support of sexual harassment victims have all sparked more conversation involving feminism this year.
Feminism has been on Merriam-Webster’s annual Top 10 the past few years; it was beat out by « surreal » last year.
« The word feminism was being used in a kind of general way, » Sokolowski told the AP. « 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 kind of things, I think, that send people to the dictionary. »
In 2017, Merriam-Webster defined feminism as the « theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes » and « organized activities on behalf of women’s rights and interests. »
A large spike in searches for feminism occurred after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway spoke at the Conservative Political Action Committee in February about her stance on feminism.
« It’s difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classical sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly seems to be very pro-abortion, » Conway said. « I’m neither anti-male or pro-abortion. There’s an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choice… I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. And to me, that’s what conservative feminism is all about. »
Other events that coincided with a spike in searches for feminism included the release of « The Handmaid’s Tale » and Wonder Women .
Merriam-Webster’s nine runner-up words for 2017, in no particular order, were « complicit, » « recuse, » « empathy, » « dotard, » « syzygy, » « gyro, » « federalism, » « hurricane, » and « gaffe. »
Katelyn Caralle Email Katelyn| Full Bio| RSS Katelyn Caralle is a media analyst at the Washington Free Beacon. Before joining Free Beacon, Katelyn worked as a Digital Strategy Intern at The Heritage Foundation. She graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2016 where she served as Editor-in-Chief of The Voice.
