Dictionary.com chooses ‘demure’ as word of the year

Dictionary.com has named “demure” as its 2024 Word of the Year. The word went viral after a video was posted on TikTok by user @JoolsLebron in August. Dictionary.com said demure saw a nearly 1,200% increase in usage in digital web media alone between January and the end of August, mainly attributed to the video.

“The rise and spread of the term on social media resulted in a similar increase in search interest on Google. Between August 2023 and July 2024, there was no significant trend in the usage of the word demure. By the week of August 18, 2024, however, there was almost 14 times more interest in the term, highlighting the term’s almost overnight explosion in popularity. At the peak of the trend, demure had 200 times more searches on Dictionary.com than it did on dates preceding August,” Dictionary.com said.

The website said while demure was traditionally used to describe those who are reserved and quiet, however, the new usage seen on social media is meant to describe refined and sophisticated appearance or behavior.

Other words on Dictionary.com’s 2024 Word of the Year shortlist were: brainrot, brat, extreme weather, Midwest nice, and weird. The word of the year in 2023 was “hallucinate.”