Archive · 2 Dec 2025
Oxford Names 'Rage Bait' 2025 Word of the Year
The Oxford University Press has chosen 'rage bait' as the Word of the Year for 2025.
This word was picked by over 30,000 people who voted.
Rage bait is online content made to make people angry or upset.
It's used to get more people to click on or engage with posts.
The word comes from 'rage,' meaning anger, and 'bait,' meaning something that attracts attention.
It's different from 'clickbait' because it specifically aims to make people angry.
The use of rage bait has increased a lot in the past year.
It's used in many places, including social media and news.
Some people use it to spread false information or conspiracy theories to make people angry and keep them engaged.
The choice of rage bait as the Word of the Year shows how online content is changing and how it affects our emotions and behavior.
Oxford University Press named 'rage bait' the Word of the Year 2025 after a public vote.
Rage bait is defined as online content designed to elicit anger or outrage to increase engagement.
Usage of the term increased threefold in the last 12 months.
The term evolved from describing driver reactions to viral tweets and now mainstream content strategies.
Rage bait is used in performative politics and practices like rage-farming to manipulate reactions and build engagement over time.
- Who
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- What
- Named 'rage bait' as the Oxford Word of the Year 2025
- When
- 2025
- Where
- Global
- Why
- To reflect societal unrest, debates about online content regulation, and concerns over digital wellbeing
- Word of the Year
- Rage Bait
- Votes Cast
- 30,000+
- Shortlisted Words
- Rage Bait, Aura Farming, Biohack
- Usage Increase
- Threefold in the last 12 months
- Definition
- Online content designed to elicit anger or outrage
- First Use
- 2002 on Usenet
- Current Usage
- Mainstream term referenced in newsrooms and content creator discourse
- Related Practices
- Rage-farming, deliberate misinformation, conspiracy theories
Sources
The Oxford Word Of The Year 2025 is Rage Bait
"Rage Bait", Not A Word, Is Oxford's Word Of The Year. This Is What It Means
‘Rage Bait’ Declared Oxford Word Of The Year 2025; Know Meaning, Usage & Why It Was Chosen
‘Rage bait’ beats ‘aura farming’ and ‘bio-hack’ to be Oxford’s Word of the Year 2025
‘Rage bait’ named Oxford Word of the Year 2025: What does it mean?
‘Rage bait’ is Oxford’s Word of the Year, and it says a lot about how we use the internet now
‘Rage bait’ named Oxford University Press word of year as outrage fuels social media traffic in 2025
From screens to Oxford! ‘Rage bait’ beats ‘aura farming,’ ‘biohack’ to become Word of 2025
What Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year, ‘rage bait’, says about today’s internet
'Rage bait' named Oxford’s word of the year, captures online anger culture - Telegraph India
Rage bait crowned Oxford’s Word of the Year 2025
What is ‘rage bait’? Oxford word of the year 2025 explained
Oxford picks ‘Rage Bait’ 2025 Word Of The Year amid surge in provocative online trends
Don’t take the rage bait, don’t give in
OUP’s ‘word of the year’ impacts social media status
OUP word of year
