Each year, the Australian Macquarie Dictionary calls together a selected Committee to discuss the new words and definitions that have entered the Macquarie Dictionary over the year. The aim of this is to select one of these to be awarded the Committee’s Choice Word of the Year.
As part of this process, our editors create a longlist of words across 13 categories which over the course of a few hours are whittled down into a shortlist. And from this, a Word of the Year is chosen.
The shortlist is also opened to the public to register what you think the Word of the Year should be. The word with the most votes is awarded the People’s Choice Word of the Year.
You can review the final shortlist here (and for those interested, the longlist is here). Thank you for helping us decide the defining new word for 2024!
Committee Winner:
ENSHITTIFICATION
noun, Colloquial: the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.
‘A very basic Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in affixes which elevate it to being almost formal; almost respectable. This word captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment.’ (The Committee)
Committee Honourable Mentions:
RIGHT TO DISCONNECT
noun: a law which grants employees the right to not work or be contacted about work during non-work hours. Also, RTD.
‘The lines between work and our private lives have become blurred, especially with the growth in working from home during and after COVID. Making the right to disconnect a federal legal reality was a recognition of this.’ (The Committee)
RAWDOGGING
noun, Colloquial: the act of undertaking a long-haul flight with no electronic entertainment, devices or reading material, as film, music, games, laptops, books, etc.
‘A kind of personal endurance test that lends itself to social media exposure, rawdogging caught the public’s attention this year. The word’s meaning was quickly extended to apply to other aspects of life.’ (The Committee)
People’s Choice Winner:
For only the third time, the People’s Choice is the same as the Committee’s Choice! Just nudging out brainrot for the win, the public are in tune with the Committee’s feelings in that "enshittification" captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment.
People’s Choice Honourable Mentions:
BRAINROT
noun, Colloquial: 1. content, especially as viewed on a social media platform and for an extended duration, which is considered to be of low quality in terms of intellectual stimulation. 2. the supposed diminished mental capacity caused by the consumption of such content. [from the notion that constant consumption of low-quality online content causes a decline in cognitive ability due to the brain not being stimulated] (The Committee)
SOCIAL BATTERY
noun: a supposed energy reserve someone has for engaging in social interactions, the reserve being depleted or stimulated depending on circumstances and an individual’s personality.
‘An interesting addition to using technological metaphors for explaining cognition. Our experiences emerging from the lockdowns likely making us more aware of the expectations of others in relation to our own wishes and capabilities.’ (The Committee)
