American publisher Merriam-Webster has chosen the word “slop” as its 2025 Word of the Year amid the proliferation of low-quality content generated by artificial intelligence online.
While the potential of AI may dazzle and intimidate, the increasing use of the word slop reflects a recognition that – at least for now – the technology has its limits.
What does slope mean?
Merriam-Webster says the original meaning of the word from the 1700s was “soft soil.”
By the 1800s, its meaning changed to food waste, as in “pig slop”, and then more commonly, “rubbish” or “a product of little or no value.”
This meaning is now widely applied to AI computer-generated content.
Merriam Webster, the leading American manufacturer of language reference works, said, “We define slop as ‘low quality digital content that is usually produced in quantity through artificial intelligence.'”
Examples of AI slop given by the publisher were:
- “Absurd” video
- “Off-kilter” advertising images
- “Bad” publicity
- “Junkie” AI-Written Books
- Fake news “that looks absolutely real”
- lots of talking cats
Merriam Webster said, “People found it annoying and people ate it up.”
Why did Merriam-Webster choose ‘slope’ as its word of the year?
The publisher highlighted the term as a celebration of the fact that, currently, the power of AI is not limitless.
“In 2025, amid all the discussion about AI threats, Slope sets a tone that is less scary, more funny. The word sends a small message to AI: When it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don’t have to be very intelligent,” it said.
“Everything that was put on our screens, captured in just four letters: the English language reemerged.”
Merriam-Webster president Greg Barlow told the AP news agency that slop was chosen because it is “an illustrative word.”
“It’s part of a transformative technology, AI, and it’s something that people have found fascinating, annoying and a little bit funny,” he said.
What other words were chosen?
Other dictionary high-flyers of 2025 reflect the political and cultural landscape of the year. They were:
- Gerrymander – manipulate voting district boundaries to give one political party an unfair electoral advantage
- Touch the grass – slang language urging someone to disconnect from excessive online life and reconnect with real-world activities
- Performative – actions taken primarily for show or image-enhancement, especially common in social media politics, activism, and culture
- Tariff – a tax or fee imposed by a government on imported (and sometimes exported) goods
- Six Seven – Gen alpha slang with no real meaning, popularized by a viral song and memes, used as a playful chant or exclamation
- Conclave – a secret, closed-door meeting of Catholic cardinals to elect a new Pope.
- Lake Chargogagogmanchaugagogchaubunagungamaug – name of a famous long Massachusetts lake that increased in searches due to an online spelling game
Edited by: Elisabeth Schumacher