Dictionary.com announced its 2019 Word of the Year today,sexual eroticism and it is a big mood.
The website has chosen the word "existential", as in "existential crisis" or "existential dread" — two things the vast majority of us are likely intimately familiar with regardless of whether we've ever used either phrase before.
Dictionary.com gives two definitions of "existential": "of or relating to existence" and "of, relating to, or characteristic of philosophical existentialism; concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual's freely made choices."
According to the site, a lot of people were concerned with the nature of human existence this year.
"The words we saw people looking up in 2019 signal a broader concern about safety, security, and survival, in ways both immediate and far-reaching," Dictionary.com senior researcher John Kelly said in a press release.
“Sustained interest in existential, in our lookup data as well as in the news and culture, reflects this collective grappling."
SEE ALSO: Cancel culture is named Macquarie Dictionary's word of the yearClimate change is quickly transforming our planet into a giant oven while politicians sit around bleating that everything is perfect and awesome. The world is on fire, and not in a cool Smash Mouth way but a "koalas are being incinerated" sort of way. Big tech companies are coming up with more ways to track everyone, everywhere, all the time. Nazis are back.
In short, widespread sentiment in 2019 has been that not enough is being done to secure our future, and that humanity's own choices are destroying us. Looking at the way things have gone thus far, it's hard to argue.
Dictionary.com does try to be a bit optimistic about the burning hell on Earth we've created for ourselves. "[T]he philosophical underpinnings of the word existential invite us to pause, shake off any pessimism or passivity, and ask: What choices do we make in the face of our challenges?" said Kelly.
We can make the best decisions we can. Buy reusable shopping bags, eat less red meat, Uberpool instead of Uber. Every little bit helps. Even so, our choices can feel a bit futile when just 20 companies are responsible for a third of all carbon emissions.
As Dictionary.com points out, in some ways we're all Toy Story 4's Forky, saddled by the terrible burden of existence and screaming for purpose.
SEE ALSO: Oxford Dictionary's word of the year makes total senseDictionary.com's runner-up for Word of the Year was a much more optimistic highlight: "nonbinary", particularly where it is defined as "noting or relating to a person with a gender identity or sexual orientation that does not fit into the male/female or heterosexual/gay divisions."
With the definition of "they" as a nonbinary pronoun also added officially to Merriam-Webster this year, it reflects growing understanding and acceptance of diverse genders and sexualities. Like hope at the bottom of our Pandora's box of misery, it indicates that at least some small part of our society is headed in the right direction.
"The power of agency is at work in another major theme in our dictionary updates and lookups in 2019: inclusivity, especially as it concerns gender identity and sexual orientation," said Kelly. "Acts of self-identification can be ways people take 'existential' control over their lives."
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