If you’ve ever scrolled through the internet, spotted a post clearly designed to get your blood pressure rising and thought, “Oh please, not this again,” congratulations – you may have met the Oxford Dictionary’s newly crowned Word of the Year: “rage bait.”
“Rage bait” refers to content cooked up specifically to spark anger and boost engagement. And yes, it has become so common online that Oxford has given it top billing for 2025.
According to the dictionary, use of the term has increased threefold this year, as more people recognise “they are being drawn ever more quickly into polarising debates and arguments as a response to social media algorithms and the addictive nature of outrage content”.
In other words: it’s not just you – the internet has been feeling a bit extra lately.
This year, almost every major dictionary chose an internet-related word, proving once again that technology is running the show and the language that describes it.
Of course, rage bait isn’t always sinister.
Sometimes it’s as harmless as a questionable recipe (tuna smoothie, anyone?) or a video of someone pestering their partner, pet or sibling.
But it has also crept into politics, where outrage can help boost profiles and spark a domino effect of reaction and counter-reaction – usually louder than the last.
Collins Dictionary went with “vibe coding,” a form of software development that uses artificial intelligence to turn natural language into computer code, while Cambridge landed on “parasocial,” the word for the one-sided relationships people form online with someone they’ve never met.
Last year, Oxford chose “brain rot”, which “captured the mental drain of endless scrolling”, Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl said.
He added, “Together, they form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally exhausted.”
“These words don’t just define trends; they reveal how digital platforms are reshaping are thinking and behaviour.”
To lighten things up, Oxford let the public choose the winner from a shortlist that also included “aura farming” and “biohack”, complete with parody videos on Instagram showcasing each term’s “energy”.
Aura farming – “the cultivation of an impressive, attractive, or charismatic persona … by presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique” – appeared as a cardigan-wearing, tote-bag-carrying man “always one matcha away from finishing (an) experimental screenplay.”
Biohack – “an attempt … to optimise one’s … health, longevity or wellbeing by altering one’s diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle, or by using other means such as drugs, supplements or technological devices” – was depicted as someone hooked up to a green IV drip and wearing an LED face mask, who had taken “27 phytonutrient-dense plants” by 6.34am.
Rage bait, at its core, is simply content designed to provoke. It’s crafted to irritate, shock or rile people up just enough to spark an emotional reaction – a comment, a share, a pile-on, anything that boosts engagement.
It doesn’t have to be malicious; sometimes it’s deliberately annoying, sometimes it’s deliberately outrageous, but the goal is always the same: get people fired up so the post spreads further and faster.
Images: Shutterstock
