Oxford University Press has picked “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, a choice that reflects how online behaviour is shaping conversations in 2025.
The term points to content crafted to spark anger or outrage.
Oxford describes it as material “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” a tactic that boosts traffic and visibility across social platforms.
Lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC that this trend feeds off the architecture of social media. “The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,” she said, adding that algorithms reward such engagement “because although we love fluffy cats, we'll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”
“Rage bait’’ edged out two other shortlisted expressions, “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’, after public consultation. “Aura farming’’ refers to shaping one’s image in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.”
“Biohack’’ is described as “an attempt to improve or optimize one's physical or mental performance, health or longevity.’’
Each year, Oxford University Press researchers track new usages and shifts in language to identify terms that capture public mood. The tradition began in 2004, and earlier winners chart a map of digital culture, from “podcast’’ in 2005 to “emoji’’ in 2015.
In 2022, “goblin mode’’ summed up the refusal of many to revert to pre-pandemic routines.