Oxford names 'rage bait' as Word of the Year 2025

“Rage bait”, defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic or engagement with a particular web page or social media account”, has been named as word of the year for 2025 by Oxford University Press (OUP).

According to officials, the word was chosen following a public vote that saw more than 30,000 people worldwide have their say over three days. 

The top



three contenders for 2025 were — rage bait, aura farming and biohack. The winning word was chosen by a combination of votes, sentiment of public commentary and analysis of OUP’s lexical data.

With the 2025 news cycle dominated by societal unrest, debates about the regulation of online content, and concerns over digital wellbeing, the use of rage bait has evolved this year to signal a deeper shift in how we talk about attention — both how it is given and how it is sought after — engagement, and ethics online.