In a world of digital noise and clutter driven by new generative artificial intelligence technologies, the Merriam-Webster dictionary has announced “slop” as the 2025 word of the year.
Defined as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,” the dictionary said the number of people looking up the word slop in the last year reflected the flood of online and social media content reaching into everyday lives, including absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, fake news and talking cats.
“All that stuff was dumped on our screens and the word of the year captured it in just four letters. The English language came through again,” Merriam-Webster president Greg Barlow said in a statement on Monday. As talk of AI tools and technologies stirring worry over job cuts and societal dislocation, the dictionary pointed to the word ‘slop’ as offering a more humorous, if not mocking, side to the debate over emerging digital technologies.
“It’s almost like the word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t seem too superintelligent,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor at large, added in his own statement.
Other words to get a high volume of look-ups in the last year, according to Merriam-Webster, include “gerrymander,” or political redistricting for gains by a particular political party; “performative,” often defined as attention-getting behavior by activists and politicians, among others; “touch grass,” often used insultingly towards people wanting break a digital addiction; and “six seven,” a Gen Alpha slang term that means nothing in particular, except to delight kids and frustrate almost everyone else, according to Merriam-Webster.
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