Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year Is: Existential?!
Remember back when all of the “word of the year” picks weren’t so bleak?
Dictionary.com just announced its pick for the 2019 word of the year, and they went with . . . “existential.”
Their definition is, quote, “of or relating to existence . . . [and] concern with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices.”
So why did they pick it? They say it’s had a huge spike in searches this year as people wonder how, basically, everything in our lives can or will continue to exist.
Climate change has been called an existential crisis for Earth . . . gun violence has been called an existential crisis for the U.S. . . . and the rise in nationalism and fascism around the world has been called an existential crisis for democracy.
On a lighter note, the character Forky in “Toy Story 4” also introduced a whole new generation to existentialism this year, even if they didn’t directly call it that, as he constantly wondered what he was . . . trash or a toy.
Dictionary.com’s runner-up for word of the year was “nonbinary.”
