As cultural norms and trends evolve year after year, so too does our word usage. Dictionary.com shows how our vocabulary is growing in 2025 by its recent addition of over 1200 terms to its catalogue, from okonomiyaki to kiss cam.
Dictionary.com’s 2025 Summer Word Drop is a hefty package; the 1235 new entries are the most that have been added to the website in a single go. Among the trends observed this year are larger-than-life prefixes, slang terms, and words borrowed from other languages.
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Language Trends for Summer 2025
Superyacht, which simply refers to a yacht that’s extremely large or extravagant, is the perfect example of the first trend. Super-, ultra-, and mega- are all popular prefixes in the year 2025, reflecting our tendency to take things to the extreme. Another new word is ultrawide, meaning something wider than usual.
Dictionary.com also recognized some slang terms for activities you may already take part in without realizing it. Take coffee badging, which is when someone decides to show up to their job in person long enough to grab coffee or meet attendance requirements before returning home for remote work. The website is also on top of viral news, as shown with the recent addition of kiss cam. Stadium events often feature a couple on a big screen, during which the audience encourages them to kiss. The term has been around for a long time, but it gained traction after a certain Coldplay concert.
According to Dictionary.com, Japanese, French, and Spanish are among the languages that English speakers borrowed from in 2025. With Japan‘s recent tourism boom, it’s not surprising to see parts of the language enter the English lexicon. The list of new Japanese words added to Dictionary.com includes okonomiyaki, a savory, pan-fried pancake dish made from batter, cabbage, various toppings (like meat, seafood, or cheese), and condiments. Another example is furoshiki, a beautifully decorated cloth used for wrapping gifts or carrying items.
14 New Words Added to Dictionary.com
- Bothsidesism
- Coffee badging
- Congestion pricing
- Furoshiki
- Geolocate
- Kiss cam
- Maneki-neko
- Okonomiyaki
- Refoulement
- Sanewash
- Superintelligence
- Superyacht
- Ultrawide
- Voxel
Looking to expand your vocabulary? You can find the rest of the platform’s newest additions on its website.