Rage Bait named word of the year 2025 by Oxford University Press

Do you get increasingly angry while scrolling through social media?

If so, you may be falling victim to anger bait, which Oxford University Press has named its word or phrase of the year.

It is a term that describes manipulative tactics used to boost online engagement and its use has tripled in the last 12 months, according to the dictionary’s publisher.

Rage Bait beat out two other shortlisted terms (aura cultivation and biohack) to win the title.

The list of words is intended to reflect some of the moods and conversations that have shaped 2025.

Even if you don’t know the term, if you’re a social media user, there’s a good chance you’ve felt anger.

According to Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, it is defined as online content deliberately designed to provoke anger or indignation by being frustrating, provocative or offensive.

This type of content is typically posted to increase traffic to websites or social media accounts.

It is similar to its Internet cousin, clickbait, where a headline is used to entice the reader to watch an article or video.

But anger bait content has a more specific focus on making people angry.

• aura cultivation: The cultivation of an impressive, attractive, or charismatic person or public image by behaving or presenting oneself in a manner subtly intended to convey an air of confidence, coolness, or mystique.
• biohack: Attempt to improve or optimize physical or mental performance, health, longevity or well-being by altering diet, exercise routine or lifestyle, or using other means such as medications, supplements or technological devices.

The three shortlisted words were put to a public vote, the results of which helped guide the final decision made by OUP language experts.

“The fact that the word anger bait exists and has seen such a dramatic rise in use means that we are increasingly aware of the manipulative tactics we can be drawn into online,” said Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages.

“Before, the Internet focused on capturing our attention by sparking curiosity in exchange for clicks, but now we have seen a dramatic shift towards hijacking and influencing our emotions and how we respond.

“It feels like the natural progression in an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human in a world driven by technology and the extremes of online culture.”

Last year’s word of the year, brain rot, captured the mental exhaustion of mindless scrolling on Instagram or TikTok.

Grathwohl said both the 2024 and 2025 winners have a similar theme.

“Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage breeds engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted,” he said.

Previous words of the year at Oxford included selfie, elf mode and rizz.

The Cambridge Dictionary has declared its 2025 word parasocial, which it defined as a relationship someone feels between themselves and a famous person they don’t know.

Their examples include the interest shown by fans when pop star Taylor Swift and American soccer player Travis Kelce announced their engagement.

Meanwhile, Collins Dictionary opted for vibe coding, which is the art of creating an app or website by describing it to artificial intelligence instead of writing programming code manually.