Search icon

News

07th Nov 2019

“Climate Strike” named Word Of The Year by Collins Dictionary

Alan Loughnane

Word of the year

Fitting.

Collins Dictionary has named Climate Strike as their 2019 word of the year after the form of protest took off in 2019 thanks to activists like Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion.

The choice was revealed in a list of new and notable words compiled by Collins lexicographers.

Climate Strike was first recognised in 2015 when a mass demonstration took place during the UN climate change conference in Paris.

Collins Dictionary defined Climate Strike as “a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change.”

A number of political terms have also been recognised along with our least favourite term of them all, ‘influencer’.

Below is the full shortlist for the word of the year…

Bopo noun also spelt BoPo: a movement advocating the view that people should be proud of the appearance of their bodies, or any aspect of this, especially size.

Cancel verb: to publicly cease to acknowledge a person, organisation, etc, especially on social media, in order to express disapproval of their activities or opinions.

Deepfake noun, verb: (noun) a technique by which a digital image or video can be superimposed onto another, which maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video; (verb) to superimpose one digital image or video onto another so that it maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video.

Double down phrasal verb: to reinforce one’s commitment to a venture or idea in spite of opposition or risk.

Entryist noun, adjective: (noun) a person who joins an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies; (adjective) relating to the practice of joining an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies.

Hopepunk noun: a literary and artistic movement that celebrates the pursuit of positive aims in the face of adversity.

Influencer noun: a person who uses social media to promote lifestyle choices, commercial products, etc to his or her followers.

Nonbinary adjective. Also spelt non-binary: relating to a gender or sexual identity that does not conform to the binary categories of male or female, heterosexual or homosexual.

Rewilding noun: the practice of returning areas of land to a wild state, including the reintroduction of animal species that are no longer naturally found there.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge