These Are the 2023 Words of the Year, According to Dictionaries

What word defined the past year for you? Find out if your guess matches the actual word of the year from five prominent dictionaries.

If there was one word that described the year you just had, what would it be? Maybe it’s one of the 690 new words and phrases Merriam-Webster just added to its dictionary—like beast mode for the workout routine you’ve kept up with since New Year’s, or chef’s kiss after you finally figured out how to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Or maybe it’s something you heard repeatedly in conversation, like a cultural trend, food, acronym or even a concept like the Roman Empire. (Yes, the actual Roman Empire.)

Whatever your personal word of the year may be, some words tend to be more broadly significant and influential, according to the world’s most prominent dictionaries. These are the terms that might refer to a cultural zeitgeist, a controversy or our larger thoughts (and often anxieties) about the world. Five dictionaries—Cambridge, Dictionary.com, Collins, Merriam-Webster and Oxford University Press—recently revealed their words of the year for 2023, and they have all these components. Can you guess what they are? Read on to find out.

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Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year

dictionary entry for the 2023 word of the year: hallucinateRD.com

Cambridge Dictionary’s pick for 2023 is—drum roll, please—hallucinate. You might be scratching your head right now since this isn’t a new word, per se. Of course, the common definition of hallucinate is “to seem to see, hear, feel or smell something that does not exist, usually because of a health condition or because you have taken a drug.” In 2023, however, to hallucinate can mean something different, thanks to AI.

According to Cambridge’s alternate definition of hallucinating, “when an artificial intelligence (= a computer system that has some of the qualities that the human brain has, such as the ability to produce language in a way that seems human) hallucinates, it produces false information.” Sure, using AI can be fun for creating dog selfies or could even help you land a job, but it’s prone to producing misleading or made-up facts—or “hallucinating.”

Which means we’ll likely be dealing with more misinformation, at least in the near future. “The fact that AIs can ‘hallucinate’ reminds us that humans still need to bring their critical-thinking skills to the use of these tools,” notes Wendalyn Nichols, Cambridge Dictionary’s publishing manager. Translation: Don’t believe everything you read—or that AI tells you!

Dictionary.com’s word of the year

2023 Words Of The Year HallucinateRD.com

No, you’re not hallucinating—hallucinate is also Dictionary.com’s word of the year. While the definition is slightly different, the intent is the same: “to produce false information contrary to the intent of the user and present it as if true and factual.” Interestingly, this usage dates back to 1971, though search for this term has skyrocketed by 85% in the past year.

“This sense of hallucinate is not new, but it is newly pertinent to many people’s lives and livelihoods,” said Kory Stamper, senior editor of lexicography at Dictionary.com, in a press release. “The conversations about the capabilities, ethics and limits of AI touch on nearly every aspect of our daily life: what we read or see on news websites; whether our refrigerators are vulnerable to hacking; or whether a bot is going to replace us at work. It’s no surprise that people have latched on to hallucinate as a convenient shorthand for all these worries.”

Collins Dictionary’s word of the year

dictionary entry for the 2023 word of the year: AIRD.com

Those dictionary people are apparently (ahem) all on the same page. Similar to Cambridge and Dictionary.com, Collins Dictionary’s word of the year is the broader term AI. Collins chose this term because it is “considered to be the next great technological revolution,” “has seen rapid development” and “has been much talked about in 2023.”

ChatGPT was released in late 2022, with companies attempting to use it to cut costs, worrying employees that it would replace their jobs. AI pioneers and creators began expressing concerns that AI could be “dangerous” and manipulated by “bad actors.” President Biden even issued an executive order on “safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence.”

And then, of course, there were the months-long writers and actors strikes, much of which hinged on the potential use of AI. While humans eventually won in both scenarios—with the new contracts stating that AI is not allowed to write or rewrite content or use an actor’s likeness in a way that the actor didn’t originally agree to—this is likely the first battle of many to come, in a variety of industries.

Merriam-Webster’s word of the year

2023 Words Of The Year 3 AuthenticRD.com

With Merriam-Webster’s word, we have an AI trifecta! This esteemed dictionary’s lexicographers chose authentic. While its core meaning is the same—“not false or imitation”—one reason for its popularity in 2023 can be attributed to AI, with the rise in deepfake videos, AI-generated voices on Audible, fake writer profiles on sites like Sports Illustrated and, as noted above, the potential use of AI in entertainment.

However, this word choice is even more nuanced. Being authentic is also about being “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” Are you, your friends and the public figures you look up to being true to themselves? Are you really getting what you see on that Instagram profile? Is that dish you got at a restaurant truly authentic?

And here’s where it gets extra complicated: As people search for authenticity, Merriam-Webster notes, “ironically, with ‘authentic content creators’ … authenticity has become a performance.”

Oxford University Press’s word of the year

2023 Words Of The Year 4 RizzRD.com

Just when we thought it would be an AI landslide, Oxford slides in at the last minute with a totally different word of the year for 2023: rizz. This noun, popular among Gen Z, means “style, charm or attractiveness” and “the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.” It’s believed to be a shortened version of the word charisma, and it can also be used as a verb. To “rizz up” means to turn on the charm and attract the person you’ve always wanted to … wink, wink.

Overall, it also hints at a changing attitude in 2023. “Given that last year ‘goblin mode’ resonated with so many of us following the pandemic,” notes Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, “it’s interesting to see a contrasting word like rizz come to the forefront, perhaps speaking to a prevailing mood of 2023, where more of us are opening ourselves after a challenging few years and finding confidence in who we are.”

Hmmm … maybe rizz isn’t all that different from authentic, after all.

Sources:

Kiersten Hickman
Kiersten Hickman is a journalist and content strategist with a main focus on nutrition, health and wellness coverage. She holds an MA in Journalism from DePaul University and a Nutrition Science certificate from Stanford Medicine. Her work has been featured in publications including Taste of Home, Reader's Digest, Bustle, Buzzfeed, INSIDER, MSN, Eat This, Not That! and more.