New Year, New Words

Language is constantly evolving, and every year the powers that be at the various English dictionaries add new words with definitions to their vast lexicons. In 2024, the Oxford English Dictionary added more than 600 new words, while Cambridge added more than 3,200 words. These new words range from slang terms to scientific terms and beyond. Here are some of our favorite words, with definitions that you can carry with you throughout 2025.

The New Additions

chef’s kiss noun: a movement in which you put your fingers and thumb together, kiss them, then pull your hand away from your lips as a way of showing that you think that something or someone is perfect or excellent.

microsleep noun: the act of sleeping for just a few seconds, or an occasion when someone nods off.

porch piracy noun: the act of stealing parcels that have been left outside people’s houses for them.

true crime noun: a nonfiction genre of literature, film, podcasts, etc. that depicts and examines real crime cases.

side quest noun:  1. a part of a computer game that has its own aim and story but is not part of the main game:
The game is broken up into main missions and side quests.

The sidequests in this game seem to be an afterthought.

2. an activity that is done in addition to another activity and is less important than it:
After making a side quest to look for shoes, we carried on with the main business of
shopping for a wedding dress.

This match was just a side quest to build more hype around the Fury versus Usyk match.

girl dinner noun: an often attractively presented collection of snacks that involve little preparation, such as small quantities of cold cuts, cheese, fruit, cherry tomatoes, etc., and often including items of little nutritional value, deemed sufficient to constitute a meal for one: typically the fare of young single women with little time or inclination to cook.

cheat code noun: 1. a hidden command, code, etc., that a video gamer unlocks and uses to gain an advantage in a game, such as by advancing levels or enhancing a character’s strengths.

These cheat codes are programmed into the software and exist as remnants of development or as purposefully hidden rewards.

2.  a ploy or technique that bypasses traditional methods or rules in order to improve
oneself or one’s success.
We don’t know what sort of cheat code he may have discovered to pass the audition,
but his mediocre talent sure has us wondering.

Selecting New Words

You might be wondering how dictionaries pick which words deserve a spot within their pages. It turns out, it’s through studying the use of language by average people, and seeing how society uses the new phrases. There isn’t one head of the English language that determines which words to add; it’s the editors at the dictionaries that make the selections.

Merriam-Webster suggests that if you have a word you want added to the dictionary, the best thing you can do is use it and get others to use it as well. Eventually, if enough people use it, your word could make its way into the dictionary. There’s no cheat code to get your word in the pages of the dictionary, it’s all just grassroots usage.

by Bianca Labrador