We’ve all, unfortunately, heard of ‘amazeballs’ but what do ‘YOLO’, ‘vape’, ‘cray’, ‘bro hug’, adorbs’ and ‘mansplain’ mean?
If you too are confused, here’s a quick guide to the latest words accepted into the Oxford family:
- acquihire: buying out a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its staff
- adorbs: arousing great delight; cute or adorable
- air punch: thrusting one’s clenched fist up into the air, typically as a gesture of triumph
- amazeballs: very impressive, enjoyable, or attractive
- anti-vax: opposed to vaccination
- Bank of Mum and Dad: a person’s parents regarded as source of financial assistance
- bare: very; really (used as an intensifier)
- bedroom tax: informal name for a measure introduced in the Welfare Reform Act 2012
- binge-watch: watch multiple episodes of (a television programme) in rapid succession
- bro hug: friendly embrace between two men
- clickbait:(on the Internet) content…whose main purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular web page
- cord cutting: practice of cancelling a pay television subscription or landline phone connection in favour of an alternative Internet-based or wireless service
- cotch: spend time relaxing; stay or sleep somewhere on a temporary basis
- cray: crazy
- Deep Web: the part of the World Wide Web that is not discoverable by means of standard search engines
- doncha: don’t you
- douchebaggery: obnoxious or contemptible behaviour
- dox: search for and publish private data about (an individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent
- e-cig: another term for electronic cigarette
- false widow: a spider resembling the black widow, some species of which are moderately poisonous to humans
- fandom: the fans of a particular person, team, series, etc. regarded collectively as a community or subculture
- fast follower: a company that quickly imitates the innovations of its competitors
- 5:2 diet: a diet that involves eating normally for five days out of a seven-day period and greatly restricting the amount of food eaten on the other two days
- FML: f— my life! (used to express dismay at a frustrating personal situation)
- geocache: an item that has been hidden at a location whose coordinates have been posted on the Internet
- hate-watch: watch (a television programme) for the sake of the enjoyment derived from mocking or criticizing it
- hench: (of a man) strong, fit, and having well-developed muscles
- hippotherapy: horse riding as a therapeutic or rehabilitative treatment
- hot mess: a person or thing that is spectacularly unsuccessful or disordered
- hot mic: a microphone that is turned on, in particular one that broadcasts a spoken remark that was intended to be private
- humblebrag: (make) an ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud
- hyperconnected: characterized by the widespread or habitual use of devices that have Internet connectivity
- ICYMI: in case you missed it
- in silico: (of scientific experiments) conducted or produced by means of computer modelling or simulation
- listicle: an Internet article presented in the form of a numbered or bullet-pointed list
- live-tweet: post comments about (an event) on Twitter while the event is taking place
- mansplain: (of a man) explain something to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing
- mud run: an event in which participants negotiate a course consisting of obstacles filled or covered with mud
- neckbeard: growth of hair on a man’s neck, especially when regarded as indicative of poor grooming
- octocopter: an unmanned helicopter having eight rotors
- olinguito: a small nocturnal tree-dwelling mammal living in cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador
- Paleo diet: a diet based on the type of foods presumed to have been eaten by early humans
- pharmacovigilance: the practice of monitoring effects of medical drugs after they have been licensed for use
- responsive: denoting a website whose page design changes automatically according to the size of screen on which it is viewed
- second screen: a mobile device used while watching television, especially to access supplementary content or applications
- sentiment analysis: the process of computationally identifying and categorizing opinions expressed in a piece of text
- side boob: the side part of a woman’s breast, as exposed by a revealing item of clothing
- side-eye: a sidelong glance expressing disapproval or contempt
- smartwatch: a mobile device with a touchscreen display, worn on the wrist
- SMH: shaking (or shake) my head (used to express disapproval, exasperation, etc.)
- spit take: (especially as a comic technique) an act of suddenly spitting out liquid one is drinking in response to something funny or surprising
- subtweet: (on Twitter) a post that refers to a particular user without directly mentioning them, typically as a form of furtive mockery or criticism
- tech-savvy: well informed about or proficient in the use of modern technology
- time-poor: spending much of one’s time working or occupied
- throw shade: publicly criticize or express contempt for someone
- vape: inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device
- WDYT: what do you think?
- YOLO: you only live once (expressing the view that one should make the most of the present moment)
