'Toxic' beats 'gammon' and 'cakeism' to win Oxford Dictionaries' word of 2018

Toxic best captures ‘the ethos, mood and preoccupations’ of the year, according to the dictionary

Oxford Dictionaries has steered clear of “big dick energy” and the derogatory term “gammon” to name “toxic” as its word of the year, citing the adjective’s use to describe everything from the debate around Brexit to the environment and masculinity.

Defining the word as “poisonous”, Oxford said it had become a “descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics”. The dictionary pointed to a 45% rise in the number of times the word has been looked up on its website, and said it best captured “the ethos, mood, or preoccupations” of 2018, thanks to “the sheer scope” of its application.

Cakeism

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