Wednesday, November 19, 2025 - If you feel a deep, one-sided bond with pop stars or influential figures online even though you’ve never met them, then your behavior is "parasocial", according to the Cambridge Dictionary, which on Tuesday, November 18, unveiled the adjective as its Word of the Year for 2025.
Lexicographers selected the term in a year marked by intense
public interest in the one-sided relationships people form with celebrities,
social media influencers, and increasingly, AI chatbots.
Parasocial is defined as “involving or relating to a
connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do
not know.”
The term itself is not new; it dates back to 1956 when two
University of Chicago sociologists noted television viewers developing these
relationships with TV personalities, viewing them with the same familiarity as
close friends or family.
However, this year saw the word's usage explode as digital
platforms amplified the perceived closeness between public figures and their
audiences.
Simone Schnall, a professor of experimental social psychology
at the University of Cambridge, hailed the choice as "inspired,"
noting that many people are now forming "unhealthy and intense parasocial
relationships with influencers."
Furthermore, as artificial intelligence becomes a constant
presence, these trends take on a new dimension: "many people treat AI
tools like ChatGPT as ‘friends’, offering positive affirmations, or as a proxy
for therapy,” she added.
The impact of internet culture on the English language is
undeniable, shaping how we communicate and defining new dictionary entries.
Colin McIntosh, a Cambridge Dictionary lexicographer,
confirmed that they only add words that are thought to have "staying
power," stating, "Internet culture is changing the English language
and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary.”
Alongside "parasocial," the dictionary received an
influx of new words, phrases, and meanings in the past 12 months, totaling
6,212 entries.
Among the new additions is Slop, a term that received an
updated definition to refer to low-quality, AI-generated content that is
increasingly inundating the internet. Another new entry is Skibidi, a slang
term described as having different meanings, such as cool or bad, though it can
also be used with no real meaning, as a joke, or in phrases such as: “What the
skibidi are you doing?”
Additionally, the list includes Delulu, a popular shortening
and play on the word delusional, and Tradwife, which is short for traditional
wife, meaning a “married woman, especially one who posts on social media, who
stays at home doing cooking, cleaning.”
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