Oxford 2025 Word: rage bait

Oxford chose two words for its Word of the Year. Or did it?

“BS90’s merchandise looks like rejects from Divisoria that snatchers wouldn’t even bother with.”

“VMA Network’s starlets can wear nameplates all they want, and still, no one would be able to identify them.”

If you’ve ever stumbled across these kinds of statements—and felt your blood pressure rise enough to make you reply, quote-tweet, or even DM the OP—then tough luck. Most likely, these statements were a form of rage bait.

The Oxford English Dictionary just announced that “rage bait” is its Word of the Year 2025. The noun is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.”

Rage bait bested “biohack” and “aura farming” in Oxford’s online poll, which drew over 30,000 participants. Lexicographers also dug into their corpus data, which showed that rage bait has tripled in usage in the past 12 months.

Oxford says rage bait dates back to 2002, when it appeared on Usenet to describe a driver’s reaction to being flashed by another driver requesting to pass. It has since become shorthand for content meant to frustrate, offend, or divide.

Oxford notes that rage bait is a “proven tactic to drive engagement,” especially in performative politics. In the Philippines, it’s fairly easy to come across people who are either rage-baiting or definitely, decidedly ignorant when it comes to their electoral opinions. We listen, and we absolutely judge.

But you know what? Oxford itself is probably rage-baiting everyone. It chose two words for its Word of the Year. Its explanation: “Rage bait” is a single unit of meaning, a standalone term that “highlights both the flexibility of the English language, where two established words can be combined to give a more specific meaning in a particular context (in this case, online), and come together to create a term that resonates with the world we live in today.”

“We’re not rage baiting you by choosing two words,” Oxford insists, “though that would be in keeping with the meaning of the term!” Sure.

 

 

“Rage bait” bested “biohack” and “aura farming” in Oxford’s poll.

 

 

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