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Oxford Names 'Rage Bait' as 2025 Word of the Year — What It Reveals About Social Media

Oxford University Press has named 'rage bait' its 2025 Word of the Year. The phrase describes online posts deliberately designed to provoke anger and drive engagement, a phenomenon amplified by social-media algorithms. It beat 'aura farming' and 'biohack' after a public shortlist, and the choice highlights growing awareness of manipulative online tactics.

11:00 PM, 12/01/2025Culture

Oxford University Press has chosen 'rage bait' as its Word of the Year for 2025, saying the phrase best captures a defining trend on social media: content explicitly designed to provoke anger in order to drive engagement.

What is 'rage bait'?

Oxford defines 'rage bait' as online material deliberately crafted to elicit anger or outrage — often by being provocative, frustrating or offensive — with the goal of generating comments, shares and other interactions. Lexicographer Susie Dent observes that creators of such content frequently revel in the large volumes of engagement their posts attract, a response amplified by algorithms that prioritize highly reactive posts.

The term is related to 'clickbait' but differs in intent: while clickbait seeks to spark curiosity and lure clicks, rage bait aims specifically to inflame emotions and provoke outrage.

Why it matters

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, says the rise of the term reflects growing public awareness of manipulative online tactics. He suggests that the internet has shifted from competing for attention through curiosity to deliberately influencing users' emotions, which in turn shapes what content spreads and how audiences respond.

Shortlist and public input

'Rage bait' topped a shortlist compiled by Oxford's lexicographers and opened for public comment. The two other finalists were 'aura farming' and 'biohack'.

'Aura farming' describes cultivating a public image in a way intended to convey confidence, coolness or mystique. 'Biohack' refers to attempts to improve or optimize one's physical or mental performance, health or longevity through lifestyle changes, technology or experimentation.

Context and precedent

Oxford University Press has announced a Word of the Year each year since 2004. Past selections include 'podcast' (2005), 'emoji' (2015) and 'goblin mode' (2022), which captured a post-pandemic cultural mood. In 2024, the chosen word was 'brain rot', describing the mental drain of endless social-media scrolling.

Other dictionaries chose different 2025 words: Cambridge Dictionary named 'parasocial' — the perceived connection someone feels with a public figure, fictional character or AI — and Dictionary.com selected '67'.

Takeaway

The selection of 'rage bait' underscores a broader conversation about how social platforms reward outrage and why it matters for how we consume and share content. Recognizing these tactics can help users make more deliberate choices online.

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