Dictionary.com has named its word of the year, and it isn’t ‘brat’

(CNN) — “Demure,” a word that went viral over the summer, has been named Dictionary.com’s 2024 word of the year — beating out other contenders like “brainrot,” “brat,” and “weird.”

In an announcement Monday, the site said that the word experienced a “meteoric rise in usage” in 2024 — up 1,200% between January and August — a spike that was largely attributed to TikToker and beauty influencer Jools Lebron’s popularization of the phrase “very demure, very mindful” in a series of satirical videos that shook the internet.

“You see how I do my makeup for work? Very demure. Very mindful,” Lebron says in one of her TikToks, donning a slightly pared-down version of her usual makeup of black, winged eyeliner and fake eyelashes.

“The way I came to the interview is the way I go to the job. A lot of you girls go to the interview looking like Marge Simpson and go to the job looking like (her sisters) Patty and Selma. Not demure,” she adds, using characters from “The Simpsons” TV show to make her point.

“Demure” has historically been used to describe discrete and reserved behavior, but “a new usage has spread through social media,” Dictionary.com said, highlighting the word’s recent associations with a person’s appearance and the way they act at work or in public places.

“Every video is me just referencing me,” Lebron says in another video with the playful caption “obscurity of demurity,” where she explains the joke after users wondered if people should be judged on their appearances at work. “That’s the joke!”

The satire is clearest in a clip in which the TikTok star asserts that she’s going to behave in a demure, mindful way while going out on the Las Vegas Strip. Her sober assertions that she’ll be back in bed by 10 p.m. are intercut with scenes of Lebron from later that night, giggling at a club and struggling to find her hotel room.

Notable figures like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, and “Drag Race” host RuPaul have all taken advantage of the trend to promote their brands.

In photos from a recent campaign for her shapewear brand Skims, Kardashian used the phrase in the caption: “See how I take my bts pictures…very cutsie (sic), very mindful, very demure…not like the other girls” Taking to Instagram, Jennifer Lopez captioned a post promoting her cocktail line Delola with the caption “very demure…very mindful,” along with a video of her elegantly sipping.

“See how I’m reading this book? Very demure. I don’t dog-ear pages, I put in a bookmark,” RuPaul said in a video promoting online bookstore Allstora. “And I don’t divulge the ending to my friends. Very considerate. And also, my cell phone is on do-not-disturb. Very demure. Very mindful.”

Lebron also appeared in a video with makeup artist Patrick Ta, who was promoting a new skin foundation from his beauty line.

Lebron, who is transgender, said that the fame from her “demure” videos has helped her finance the rest of her transition. “I used to be crazy and out of control and then I found some demurity, and along with that came success,” she said, on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. She has now amassed more than 2.3 million followers on TikTok.

Dictionary.com said that its decision to choose “demure” this year was informed by a deep analysis of social media trends, news headlines and words that transcended conversations online, seeping into everyday dialogue.

The site’s word of the year in 2023 was “hallucinate” — a reference to the rise of chatbots and artificial intelligence that can often spur misinformation.

“Brat,” another word that has taken on new meaning in 2024, was named Collins Dictionary’s word of 2024 for being one of the most talked about words on and offline.

The-CNN-Wire
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