LONDON 

The editors at US dictionary Merriam-Webster – all of them verified as human beings, not computer-generated simulations – picked "slop" as the 2025 Word of the Year, nodding to a year in which AI and its effects, good and bad, dominated both newspaper headlines and casual conversation.

The dictionary said Sunday on its website that they define slop as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence."

It said that the "flood of slop in 2025 included absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, (and) junky AI-written books."

"In 2025, amid all the talk about AI threats, slop set a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking," said Merriam-Webster, seen as the premier dictionary of American English, tracing its lineage to Noah Webster, the pioneering American lexicographer.

The original meaning of the word, in the 1700s, was "soft mud," while a century later slop meant "food waste" and then more generally, "rubbish" or "a product of little or no value."

In addition, among farmers, “slop the hogs” means feeding pigs, especially feeding them leftovers.

Other words that stood out in Merriam-Webster’s 2025 lookup data include gerrymander (manipulating electoral districts for political advantage), touch grass (go outside), performative, tariff, six seven (a young person’s phrase that has confused adults), and conclave, owing to the Vatican meeting this May to select a new pope.

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, though not exactly a word that defined the year, is also among the top lookups list on Merriam-Webster.com.

The body of water takes its name from the Algonquian language of Native Americans. Situated in the state of Massachusetts and also known as Webster Lake, the lake boasts what is reportedly the longest name of any geographic feature in the United States.