Merriam-Webster Added 1,400 New Words — And "Rickroll" Finally Made the Cut

Merriam-Webster just added 1,400 new words and definitions, and this year’s list reads like a scroll through your feed.“Looksmaxxing,”“Sunday scaries,”“parasocial,”“meme coin,”“Xennial,”“yacht rock,”“limerence,”“Mandela Effect,”and“California sober”all made the cut. And yes,“Rickroll”is officially dictionary official now, only about twenty years after the internet started using it.

According to the publisher, a word earns its spot once it’s used frequently, widely, and meaningfully, verified through a database of nearly 17 million citations. That means the editors aren’t picking favorites, they’re tracking what people actually say. Social media still had questions, though. One Instagram commenter asked how“Rickroll”waited two decades while“looksmaxxing”got in right away, and another pushed back on the definition of“California sober,”saying it shouldn’t include alcohol.

So the dictionary isn’t just recording language, it’s reflecting us back at ourselves, slang, inside jokes, and all. Which new word do you think earned its spot, and which one are you side-eyeing? Tell us in the comments.