Phrase loved by Generation Z crowned word of the year — but do YOU know what it means?
GEN Z phrase “manifest” has been named as the word of the year — thanks to singer Dua Lipa and England striker Ollie Watkins.
It was chosen by Cambridge Dictionary which defines it as “imagining achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen”.
Dua, 29, and Ollie, 28, have both boasted of “manifesting” their success through the power of visualisation.
In the past year the word has been searched 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website.
When it was first coined in the 14th Century, the word “manyfest” was used as an adjective to describe something as “easily noticed or obvious”.
It is also the root of the election term “manifesto”.
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The dictionary’s Wendalyn Nichols said: “We have three considerations.
“What word was looked up the most, or spiked?
“Which one really captures what was happening in that year?
“And what is interesting about this word from a language point of view?
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“Manifest won because it increased notably in look-ups, its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time.”
The dictionary’s other most looked-up words included singer Charli XCX’s slogan “brat” — word of the year for Collins Dictionary earlier this month — and TikTok buzzword “demure”.
