--- title: Dictionary.com's 2015 Word of the Year: 'Identity' description: The editors mark a year when gender, race, sexuality and nationality have dominated the news canonical: https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-08T13:02:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:27:26.725Z og:title: This Is Dictionary.com's 2015 Word of the Year og:description: Because gender, race, sexuality and nationality have dominated the news og:url: https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Dictionary.com's 2015 Word of the Year twitter:description: Because gender, race, sexuality and nationality have dominated the news twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Is Dictionary.com’s 2015 Word of the Year by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 8, 2015 1:02 PM UTC by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 8, 2015 1:02 PM UTC Dictionary.com announced its 2015 word of the year on Tuesday: _identity_. “Over the past year, headlines tied to gender, sexuality and race dominated the news,” the company’s editors wrote in a press release. “In particular, many of the year’s biggest stories focused on the way in which individuals or members of a group are perceived, understood, accepted or shut out.” Editors said they picked _identity_ after they saw spikes in lookups for words such as _transgender_, [_cisgender_](http://time.com/3636430/cisgender-definition/)and _microaggression_, which Dictionary.com defines as “a subtle but offensive comment or action directed at a minority or other nondominant group that is often unintentional or unconsciously reinforces a stereotype.” They pointed to people including former NCAAP chapter president Rachel Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner as figures who launched a thousand think pieces about race and gender this year, while the Supreme Court altered the definition of _marriage_ with a [landmark ruling](http://time.com/3937244/supreme-court-gay-marriage-decision/). Opening the annual “WOTY” season for major players, Oxford Dictionaries [chose an emoji](http://time.com/4114886/oxford-word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/) as their word of the year in November. Last year amid Ebola fervor, Dictionary.com summed up the year with [_exposure_](http://time.com/3592902/dictionary-word-of-the-year-exposure/), while Oxford [anointed _vape_](http://time.com/3590093/oxfords-2014-word-of-the-year-is-vape/), Merriam Webster [chose _culture_](http://time.com/3632231/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2014/) and the American Dialect Society [voted for the hashtag #blacklivesmatter](http://time.com/3662593/2014-word-of-year-blacklivesmatter/). **MORE**: [Words of the Year: How the Pithy Tradition Began](http://time.com/3589626/word-of-the-year-history/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/"},"headline":"This Is Dictionary.com’s 2015 Word of the Year","datePublished":"2015-12-08T13:02:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:26.725Z","description":"The editors mark a year when gender, race, sexuality and nationality have dominated the news","url":"https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/","keywords":["Living","Newsfeed","gender","Race","language","Dictionary","Oxford","2015","identity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4139350/dictionary-2015-word-of-the-year/","name":"This Is Dictionary.com’s 2015 Word of the Year"}}]}] ```