Why 'rage bait' is Oxford's 2025 Word of the Year - the disturbing reality behind our online outrage

"Rage bait" will be Oxford University Press's 2025 Word of the Year.

Defined as online content designed to provoke anger and drive engagement, it's a sign of our digital culture. Two words, one cultural mood, and a whole lot of scrolling fatigue.

And before you roll your eyes, Oxford swears it isn’t rage-baiting us with the choice.

As someone who spends their fair share of time online, I really felt this. Over the past few years, we’ve all learned to spot content designed to annoy us, whether it’s a “modern dating rules” thread meant to stir up arguments, a fake political hot take, or another video comparing milk tart to crème brûlée just to get people talking.

That’s not just a trend; it’s a reflection of our online experience.

But what does rage bait actually mean?

Rage bait is defined by Oxford as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account”.

In other words, our emotions are the bait, and the content is the trap.

The term itself marries two ideas: rage, a violent surge of anger, and bait, an enticing lure designed to hook us in. And it’s working.

According to Oxford, the term has tripled in usage over the past year, signalling just how aware we’ve become of the manipulation tactics baked into our feeds.

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, put it perfectly: “The internet has shifted from sparking curiosity to hijacking our emotions.”

What used to be clickbait has now evolved into feel-something-now bait, and the easiest emotion to provoke is anger.

Think about it. How often do you find yourself pulled into a heated debate over a provocative (and often exaggerated) headline? Or scrolling past posts designed to frustrate, divide or spark conflict?

And honestly? We’ve all fallen for it at least once. Sometimes we scroll right past, and sometimes… we take the bait.

The evolution of a very online phrase

Interestingly, the term’s origins date back to 2002, when it was first used to describe the frustration of being flashed at by another driver. Over time, it evolved into internet slang, describing viral posts or trends designed to provoke.

Algorithms prioritise engagement, and few emotions are as engaging as outrage. It’s a simple formula: the more extreme the reaction, the more likely people are to interact. And the more people interact, the more the algorithm rewards that content.

But here’s the interesting bit: Oxford doesn’t limit its Word of the Year to one word. Expressions count, too, because they capture a single idea.

Last year’s winner was also a two-word phrase: brain rot, used to describe TikTok-induced obsession with certain shows, characters or aesthetics.

Oxford’s team of lexicographers tracks global language patterns, usage spikes, cultural trends, and emerging slang, shortlisting terms that reflect contemporary life. More than 30 000 people voted on this year’s finalists.

The shortlist included:

Aura farming: refers to the cultivation of an impressive or charismatic online persona, carefully designed to project confidence and mystique. It’s the digital equivalent of curating a highlight reel of your life, where every post is calculated to build a certain “vibe.”

Biohack: describes the growing trend of optimising one’s health, performance, or well-being through lifestyle changes, supplements, or even tech gadgets.

Other dictionaries agree: the internet now runs the culture. Oxford isn’t the only publisher looking at our collective screen time.

Dictionary.com chose “6-7”, a Gen Alpha slang term meaning “so-so,” “maybe”, or sometimes just an excited exclamation.

Cambridge Dictionary went with “parasocial,” referring to one-sided relationships we form with celebrities or influencers, a word that dominated the year after fans processed the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement like it was a family event.

A 2024 Pew Research Centre study found that 72% of adults regularly consume content from influencers, and psychologists have noted the rise of “emotion-driven engagement”, meaning we respond more intensely to content that makes us feel something quickly.

Sound familiar?