The Marian Webster Dictionary just revealed the 2022 word of the year: gaslighting. With a spike in popularity this year, there was a huge jump in lookup statistics for the word, leading us to wonder: what other words have been trending? So we’ve asked the student body what their Warrior Word of the year is.
As for the term “gaslighting”, the word is similar to manipulating. In fact, Marian Webster defines it as the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.
The word may have gained traction because of TikTok since the app makes the sharing of experiences and advice more accessible to people who may be in similar situations. Gaslighting is often used to describe toxic behavior in relationships, so the recent widespread use of the word is helpful when allowing people to get informed.
In this age of misinformation—of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deepfakes—gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.
Marian Webster
Expanding vocabulary is always a good thing, so we went around and asked CHS students what their word of the year would be.
What kind of helpful advice or silly memories can our student body sum up in just one word?
Slay
Unsurprisingly, a lot of students claimed slay was their 2022 word of the year. We also have TikTok to thank for this one since the word was inredibly popular just a few months ago. Slay is somehow a verb and adjective. One could be slaying their homework while having a slay day. Mostly though its simply a one word response to use when unsure what else to say. So, slay!
Prosperous
I accomplished a whole heck of a lot this year
Claire Green
Throughout all the post COVID craziness we’ve endured for so long now, it felt impossible to find the motivation to get things done. However, the world keeps turning and we have prospered through the madness. Between school work, sports, jobs and extra curriculars we’ve earned this word of the year!
Some honorable mentions also include:
Real
I use the word a lot. It’s just so… real!
Erika Sams
Pookie
It became a joke between my friends but the word quickly became how I show my love for them.
Emmy Gross
Nah
Sometimes even saying no is too much.
Makenzie Bird
No matter the year, words are how we express ourselves. From slang, to inside jokes, to meaningful and heart felt messages, we simply could not communicate without words. They’re fundamental to our well being, relationship building, and growing as people.
Thank you to our CHS students that put thought into their word of the year, and all those that hold words close to their heart.
THE WARRIOR WORD 