--- title: Merriam-Webster: Word of the Year for 2014 description: This word saw a big spike in lookups this year, for lots of good reasons canonical: https://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T13:31:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:15:17.522Z og:title: Merriam-Webster Announces Its Word of the Year og:description: This word saw a big spike in lookups this year, for lots of good reasons og:url: https://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacab52386351c4c6/69868568cd804d58b7cc9ba2/140288725.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dictionary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Merriam-Webster Announces Its Word of the Year twitter:description: This word saw a big spike in lookups this year, for lots of good reasons twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacab52386351c4c6/69868568cd804d58b7cc9ba2/140288725.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Merriam-Webster Announces Its Word of the Year by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 15, 2014 1:31 PM UTC  Tiered stand of large dictionaries Tiered stand of large dictionariesA.L. Christensen / Getty Images / Flickr Open by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 15, 2014 1:31 PM UTC _Culture_. That is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2014\. If it sounds awfully broad, that is because the editors based in Springfield, Mass., rely more on hard data than feeling to choose their lexical time capsule. But this big idea, broken down into specifics, does a fine job of summing up the past year. While [Oxford chose _vape_](http://time.com/3590093/oxfords-2014-word-of-the-year-is-vape/) for its connections to health and society, and [Dictionary.com chose _exposure_](http://time.com/3592902/dictionary-word-of-the-year-exposure/) to tie big news stories like Ebola and Ferguson together, Merriam-Webster settled on _c_ _ulture_ by figuring out which of their most popular words experienced the biggest spike in lookups this year. Looking back to see what helped drive those lookups, the editors point out that “celebrity culture” and “rape culture” and “company culture” all had big years. “Culture is a word that we seem to be relying on more and more. It allows us to identify and isolate an idea, issue, or group with seriousness,” Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster, said in a statement. “And it’s efficient: we talk about the ‘culture’ of a group rather than saying ‘the typical habits, attitudes, and behaviors’ of that group.” In addition to the phrases Merriam-Webster points out, plenty of other brands of culture made headlines in 2014, including: [pop culture](http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/join-vulture-as-we-celebrate-no-respect-week.html), [consumer culture](http://mashable.com/2014/10/17/iran-economy/), [military culture](http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/editorial-military-culture-on-trial-at-fort-leonard-wood/article%5F83a7f7ca-c41b-51aa-98d7-cfca25d052a3.html), [culture wars](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/10/08/the-culture-wars-are-back-and-this-time-everyone-can-win/), [the “culture of free,”](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/technology/grappling-with-the-culture-of-free-in-napsters-aftermath.html) [startup culture](http://www.wired.com/2014/09/ron-conway-biz-stone/), [cultural clashes](http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2014/11/22/why%5Fimmigrant%5Fkids%5Fbecome%5Fhomeless%5Fstudy%5Ffinds%5Fcultural%5Fclash%5Fwith%5Fparents%5Fis%5Fthe%5Ftop%5Freason.html), [cultures of violence](http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/02/latin-america-a-culture-of-violence/), [cultures of silence](http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/04/overcoming-culture-silence-201444121049661388.html), [drug culture](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-05-30/features/chi-narcoliteratura-20140530%5F1%5Fdrug-trade-printers-row-lit-fest-panel-discussion), [Western culture](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/24/merry-the-realities-of-ukraine/), [Scottish culture](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/upshot/why-does-scotland-want-independence-its-culture-vs-economics.html), [surf culture](http://www.weather.com/sports-recreation/news/cowboys-waves-look-surf-culture-texas-photos-20140729), [high culture](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/opinion/high-culture-and-hard-labor.html), [teenage culture](http://io9.com/how-will-self-driving-cars-change-teenage-culture-1621694622), [culture shocks](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472395,00.asp), [police culture](http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/284298041.html), [the NFL’s culture](http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/09/11/op-ed-ray-rice-broken-nfl-culture-and-how-fix-it), [media culture](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater%5Fdance/vtdance-debunks-societys-media-culture-with-occupy/2014/11/02/a0bb291e-62a0-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d%5Fstory.html) and [hookup culture](http://time.com/88092/hookup-culture-myth-study/). Other words that saw big lookup spikes this year, each with their own connections to what was going on in American culture, were _nostalgia_ (our [long goodbye to _Mad Men_](http://time.com/mad-men-last-days/)), _insidious_ (a certain horror movie franchise [gets another installment](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/10/23/insidious-chapter-3-teaser-trailer/)), _je ne sais quoi_ (Sonic [selling us](http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Ngl/sonic-drive-in-boneless-chicken-wings-wingman) chicken wings) and _feminism_ (the [Gamergate controversy](http://time.com/3510381/gamergate-faq/), for starters). In their press release, Merriam-Webster points out that TIME’s [nod](http://time.com/74861/pop-star-feminism-beyonce-miley-cyrus-pharrell/) to 2014 as “the year of pop feminism” sent many people running for the dictionary. Here are the three top definitions of culture that Merriam-Webster returns when someone looks up the word, one we clearly can’t get enough of: : the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time : a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc. : a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization (such as a business) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/"},"headline":"Merriam-Webster Announces Its Word of the Year","datePublished":"2014-12-15T13:31:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:17.522Z","description":"This word saw a big spike in lookups this year, for lots of good reasons","url":"https://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","language","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacab52386351c4c6/69868568cd804d58b7cc9ba2/140288725.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltacab52386351c4c6/69868568cd804d58b7cc9ba2/140288725.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dictionary","caption":"140288725","creditText":"A.L. 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