This yr , the issue of times people looked up Merriam - Webster ’s definition ofgaslightingskyrocketed 1740 percentage compared to 2021 . So it seems fitting that the dictionary key it 2022 ’s word of the twelvemonth .
Merriam - Webster actually hastwo definitionsfor the noun . The first is as follows : “ psychological handling of a person normally over an extended geological period of sentence that causes the victim to interrogate the validity of their own thoughts , perception of reality , or memory and typically leads to mental confusion , loss of confidence and self - esteem , uncertainty of one ’s aroused or mental stability , and a dependency on the culprit . ”
If you ’re thinking , “ Boy , that sounds exactly like what happened to Ingrid Bergman ’s character in the 1944 Hollywood classicGaslight , ” it ’s because it is . The flick , based on an earlier play , coin the term .
But as Merriam - Webster explained in ablog post , people these day do n’t just usegaslightingto describe total reality - distorting manipulation . It can also relate more broadly to “ the act or drill of grossly misguide someone specially for one ’s own advantage . ” With all thedisinformationfloating around the internet , it can be knotty to realize when you ’re being gaslighted into throw away your own perceptions or beliefs .
Merriam - Webster also revealed a short list of other contenders that experience dramatically increased look - ups in 2022 . A fistful had political connotations , includingoligarch , codify , andraid . And when news broke that Camilla , Duchess of Cornwall , would become Queen Consort in the wake ofQueen Elizabeth II ’s death , singular Crown followers flocked to their telephone set to discoverwhat the titleQueen Consortactually intend .
See what other popular term made the leaning below , and find out more about each onehere .
