Gaslighting is defined as the ‘psychological manipulation of a person that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts’
(Picture: Alex Green, Pexels)The Merriam-Webster dictionary has revealed its Word of the Year 2022 to be “gaslighting”.
Searches for the meaning of the word went up by 1,740 per cent in the past year compared with 2021.
The dictionary’s word of the year can often be linked to a single event that fuelled its rise in popularity. For instance, 2021’s winner was “vaccine” and in 2020 it was “pandemic”, which were directly linked to the coronavirus and the resultant vaccination campaigns to tackle it.
However, in the case of “gaslighting”, searches for it were constant throughout the year and cannot be attributed to a single factor.
The dictionary defines gaslighting as: “psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator”.
In recent years, the word has also been used to refer to the broader act of “grossly misleading someone, especially for a personal advantage”.
'Gaslighting' is our 2022 #WordOfTheYear.https://t.co/i7QlIv1DBB
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) November 28, 2022
The word first emerged in 1938 as the title of a thriller play, Gas Light. A 1944 film based on this, Gaslight, followed.
This involved a man manipulating his wife into believing she was going insane by slowly making her question her perception of reality, memories and decisions.
The runner-up in Merriam-Webster’s word of the year was “oligarch”. Searches for it rose by 621 per cent in early March 2022, after the US and UK announced a series of sanctions on Russian oligarchs and their families.
“Oligarch” is defined as: “one of a class of individuals who through private acquisition of state assets amassed great wealth that is stored especially in foreign accounts and properties and who typically maintain close links to the highest government circles”.
Third place went to “Omicron”, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, which the World Health Organisation used to name the most recent coronavirus variant.
“Codify” was fourth in the rankings, with searches surging on three occasions. These were linked to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, affecting abortion rights.
Firstly, on May 3, the searches went up by 5,347 per cent when the draft of the decision to overturn it was leaked. Then, on June 24, an increase of 1,293 per cent was recorded when the decision was officially confirmed. And, lastly, on June 30, it increased by 8,304 per cent when President Joe Biden endorsed ending the filibuster to codify the right to abortion.
Codify refers to the process of making a code or, in other words, the law.
The other words that made the Merriam-Webster list were:
- LGBTQIA, which is an abbreviation that refers to “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (one’s sexual or gender identity), intersex, and asexual/aromantic/agender”
- Sentient, which means “responsive to or conscious of sense impressions”, “aware” or “finely sensitive in perception or feeling”
- Loamy, meaning “a mixture (as for plastering) composed chiefly of moistened clay”
- Raid, which has a number of meanings such as “a surprise attack by a small force” or “a sudden invasion by officers of the law”
- Queen Consort, the name given to “the wife of a reigning king”
