Merriam-Webster announces ‘polarisation’ as 2024 word of the year
Al Jazeera
Polarisation, a word that describes the division of two sharply distinct opposites, is the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s word of the year.
“Polarisation means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, before Monday’s announcement. “Polarisation means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the centre.”
The word is spelled “polarization” in American English.
The results of the 2024 presidential election in the United States rattled the country and sent shockwaves across the world – or were cause for celebration, depending on whom you ask.
The election, which saw Republican Donald Trump win another White House term, was so divisive that many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was an existential threat to the nation.
