‘Toxic’ - Word of the Year for 2018

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ben@e52
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‘Toxic’ - Word of the Year for 2018

Postby ben@e52 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:24 pm

Hello!

This is Teacher Ben at E52 here to share the Oxford English Dictionaries choice of “toxic” as the Word of the Year for 2018. Every year, the OED chooses a word that reflects “the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year”.

The word toxic, which first appeared in the 17th century, essentially means something that is poisonous, venomous, dangerous, destructive, harmful, or unsafe. Although the word itself is old, it became one of the most discussed and used words of 2018 – the Oxford University Press noticed a 45 percent increase in the number of times “toxic” was searched on the dictionary’s website this past year.

Check out more about the decision behind the Word of the Year in this article from USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 023517002/


Why do you think that “toxic” was picked as the Word of the Year? Are there other words that you would suggest to represent 2018? What was last year’s Word of the Year? Feel free to give your answer or opinions below!

Best,
Ben at E52