“Parasocial” has been named as word of the year by Cambridge Dictionary.
Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year, parasocial, has raised concerns regarding the unhealthy online trends.
What does ‘parasocial’ mean?
'Parasocial' is a term used to describe the unique connection that people feel with individuals they have never met or even with AI systems, CNN reported.
The dictionary described the word as “involving and relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, or TV series, or an artificial intelligence.”
As per the Cambridge Dictionary, the term was coined in 1956 by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl for describing the “para-social” relationships between viewers and TV personalities.
The most popular dictionary noted that social media users today also formed that parasocial relationship with celebrities and influencers.
One of the key examples used by the dictionary included Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement announcement, where fans felt a deep emotional connection to the couple despite never having met them.
Colin McIntosh, a lexicographer at the Cambridge Dictionary, suggested that the word “captures the 2025 zeitgeist” and demonstrates how language changes.
He stated, “What was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream. Millions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise.”
“The language around parasocial phenomena is evolving fast, as technology, society and culture shift and mutate: from celebrities to chatbots, parasocial trends are fascinating for those who are interested in the development of language,” McIntosh added.
Beside parasocial, the Cambridge dictionary also highlighted some of the other words that have had a significant impact this year.
Among their number is “slop,” defined as “content on the internet that is of very low quality, especially when it is created by artificial intelligence,” as well as “memeify,” or “to turn an event, image, person, etc. into a meme.”
Notably, the dictionary this year added 6,000 new words, including “delulu,” “skibidi” and “tradwife.”
