Dictionary.com’s 2016 Word Of The Year: Xenophobia

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Link: Dictionary.com’s 2016 Word of the Year: Xenophobia | Dictionary.com Blog

 

...Soon after Brexit, the second largest surge in lookups this year for the term xenophobia leads us to the 2016 US presidential race. On June 29, President Obama gave a speech in which he expressed concern over the use of the term populism to describe Donald Trump’s political rhetoric. Obama insisted that this was not an example of populism, but of “nativism or xenophobia.” The biggest spike in lookups for the term populism occurred on June 30 as a result of Obama’s speech...

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Link: The 2017 Word of the Year is Complicit: Dictionary.com

 

...Complicit means “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.” Or, put simply, it means being, at some level, responsible for something . . . even if indirectly.

 

The word complicit has sprung up in conversations this year about those who speak out against powerful figures and institutions and about those who stay silent...