Four little letters capture the tsunami of low-quality content inundating online life and corroding reality in 2025: "slop."
The big picture: That slop is seeping beyond our screens into everyday vernacular, earning it the title of Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year.
- The dictionary is not alone. The Economist also chose "slop" as the word that defined 2025.
Context: AI slop is everywhere — and it's gotten harder to spot — so we're sure to keep using the word in the years to come.
- Merriam-Webster defines the term as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence."
- It can also mean "a product of little or no value," food waste fed to animals and soft mud, among other usages.
Context: In 2025, digital waste can look like fake woodland creatures jumping on a treadmill or infants in comically absurd situations — but it can also lead to the spread of dangerous misinformation.
- But Ben Kusin, founder of AI studio Kartel, told Axios' Megan Morrone earlier this year that while AI has fueled the current scale of slop, it isn't necessarily new.
- He pointed to shows like "America's Funniest Home Videos" that could be considered an earlier iteration of the slop that's now infiltrating our feeds.
Worth noting: Slop doesn't just exist within the bounds of our social media bubbles — "workslop" is clogging up businesses and duping shoppers on e-commerce platforms.
Yes, but: Merriam-Webster says that calling content "slop" sets "a tone that's less fearful, more mocking."
- Their release read, "The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don't seem too superintelligent."
Zoom out: Other words of the year that Merriam-Webster said stood out in their lookup data included:
- gerrymander, fueled by the redistricting war gripping the country ahead of next year's midterm races;
- "touch grass," a search term that spiked after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) encouraged people to do so after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was killed;
- tariff, an import tax that has become a key part of President Trump's trade and foreign relations strategy;
- and "six seven" — a phrase that's sparked a Gen Alpha craze taking over classrooms and sporting events across the country.
The bottom line: The internet has long had a problem with spam, junk and scams. Now, thanks to the English language, we have another word to describe the wacky content scrambling our scrolling.
- Just beware — devouring too much slop may lead to a diagnosis of Oxford's 2024 word of the year: brain rot.
Go deeper: How to use "skibidi" and other new slang added to Cambridge Dictionary
