Do you know that feeling when you read something online and it seems deliberately provocative, almost designed to cause outrage? You may have just encountered “anger bait” – content deliberately designed to generate anger in order to increase engagement.
And it’s become so ubiquitous online that Oxford Dictionaries declared “rage bat” its word of the year on Sunday.
Use of the word has tripled this year, the U.K.-based dictionary said in a statement, showing that people are aware that they are “increasingly engaging in polarizing debates and arguments as a response to the addictive nature of social media algorithms and abusive content.”
Nearly every major dictionary has named an Internet-related term as the 2025 word of the year, highlighting the hold technology has on daily life and the language we use to describe it.
Sometimes, anger fodder can be relatively harmless – a recipe containing a disgusting food combination or someone upsetting their pet, partner or sibling. But it has also become embedded in political discussion, using outrage to boost the profiles of politicians and provoke a range of reaction and counter-reaction.
The Collins Dictionary chose “vibe coding”, a form of software development that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to transform natural language into computer code, and the Cambridge Dictionary settled on “parasocial”, which refers to the relationships people form online with someone they don’t know, as their words of the year.
And last year Oxford chose “brain rot,” which “captures the mental strain of endless scrolling,” Caspar Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said in a statement.
Taken together, Grathwohl said, anger fodder and brain rot “create a powerful cycle, where outrage stokes engagement, algorithms increase it, and constant interaction drains us mentally.”
“These terms don’t just define trends; they illustrate how digital platforms are reshaping thinking and behavior,” he said.
Oxford Dictionaries let the public choose their word of the year from a shortlist that also included “aura farming” and “biohack”, posting parody videos on their Instagram to convey the spirit of each word.
Aura farming, “the cultivation of a commanding, charming, or charismatic persona … by subtly presenting oneself to convey a sense of confidence, coolness, or mystery,” was portrayed as a cardigan-wearing, tote bag carrying man, “always a match away from perfecting the experimental screenplay.”
And the biohack, “an attempt … to optimize one’s … health, longevity, or well-being by making changes to one’s diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle, or using other means such as drugs, supplements, or technological devices,” was envisioned as someone connected to a green IV drip and wearing an LED face mask who took “27 phytonutrient-dense plants” by 6:34 a.m.
Meanwhile, while he was making a cup of tea, she angrily threw milk and sugar everywhere, before picking at her toenails and spilling the milk all over herself.
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