Maxxing Word of the Year: Dictionary.com's Pick

Dictionary.com named maxxing as its choice for the maxxing word of the year on Monday, October 26, according to Dictionary.com. The site defines maxxing as pursuing an activity to the fullest or optimizing one part of life as much as possible, according to Dictionary.com. That plain definition covers a lot of ground, and that range is part of the reason the word won, according to Dictionary.com.

The maxxing word of the year announcement arrived after a sharp rise in media use, according to Dictionary.com. Digital media used the term nearly nineteen times more often in August than the monthly average for the previous year, according to Dictionary.com. Steve Johnson, director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group, said maxxing stood out because it appeared in many kinds of articles and crossed many domains, according to CBS News reporting on the announcement. Johnson described maxxing as the linguistic sign of a culture increasingly preoccupied with getting the most out of everything, according to CBS News.

The maxxing word of the year works on its own and as a suffix, according to Dictionary.com. Looksmaxxing means optimizing physical appearance, according to Dictionary.com. Tokenmaxxing means using as much artificial intelligence at work as possible, according to Dictionary.com. Gymmaxxing, proteinmaxxing, sleepmaxxing, cozymaxxing and nonnamaxxing all follow the same pattern, according to Dictionary.com. Nonnamaxxing means bettering life by adopting the habits of an Italian grandmother, according to Dictionary.com. The pattern turns an ordinary activity into a named project, and the suffix stays flexible enough to fit almost any pursuit, according to Dictionary.com.

From gaming forums to everyday speech

The roots of the maxxing word of the year reach back to maximum and maximize, according to Dictionary.com. Gaming gave the family an early shape through min-maxing, a strategy of building up a character's strengths so weaknesses matter less, according to Dictionary.com. Looksmaxxing later arose on Reddit and other forums before spreading across social media, according to Dictionary.com. Archived internet data shows looksmaxxing in use a decade ago, according to Dictionary.com. By late last year, related terms such as moneymaxxing, statusmaxxing and surgerymaxxing were already in circulation, according to Dictionary.com.

Searches for maxxing as a standalone word also rose sharply, according to Dictionary.com. The site said the standalone use shows maxxing coming into its own, rather than serving only as the tail end of longer words, according to Dictionary.com. Tokenmaxxing grew as companies encouraged employees to use artificial intelligence tools heavily, according to Dictionary.com. Smaller coinages rose and fell with buzzy articles and social media trends, according to Dictionary.com. Through those swings, searches for the standalone word kept rising, according to Dictionary.com.

The maxxing word of the year also carries a joke inside it, according to Dictionary.com. For some people, maxxing describes an earnest effort to improve appearance, habits or performance, according to Dictionary.com. For others, the exaggerated ambition is the point of the joke, according to Dictionary.com. A quiet Friday night at home with movies and snacks becomes cozymaxxing in that joking register, according to Dictionary.com. The same word can celebrate self-improvement, poke fun at the pressure to optimize everything, or do a little of both, according to Dictionary.com.

The words maxxing beat

Dictionary.com shortlisted four other words for the maxxing word of the year honor, according to Dictionary.com. Affordability reflected rising costs for housing, groceries and childcare heading into the midterm elections, according to Dictionary.com. Data center reflected the spread of artificial intelligence facilities across the country, according to Dictionary.com. Odyssey gained attention from Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of Homer's epic, according to Dictionary.com. Unc, a clipping of uncle, describes someone considered out of touch or corny, according to Dictionary.com. The site compared unc to an earlier generational put-down, OK Boomer, according to Dictionary.com.

The recent history of the prize puts the maxxing word of the year choice in context, according to Dictionary.com. Two years earlier, the site picked demure, according to reporting on the announcement. Last year, the winner was sixty seven, a phrase popularized by internet culture, according to reporting on the announcement. Maxxing continues that run of internet-shaped winners, while shifting the focus from a single viral phrase to a template that keeps generating new words, according to Dictionary.com. Readers can see the same slang churn in an earlier look at LOL and unc, in a report on solomaxxing, and in the born retired baby meme that took over feeds this week.

Why the pick landed now

The maxxing word of the year selection sums up a year when optimization moved from niche forums into workplaces, gyms, kitchens and group chats, according to Dictionary.com. Fitness and wellness creators talked about maximizing protein or fiber intake, according to Dictionary.com. Office workers talked about squeezing more from artificial intelligence tools, according to Dictionary.com. Homebodies joked about maximizing rest, according to Dictionary.com. Each use kept the same core idea, which is pushing one chosen thing as far as it can go, according to Dictionary.com. The full Dictionary.com announcement traces that path from gaming language to mainstream speech, according to Dictionary.com.

Dictionary.com left one question open in the maxxing word of the year announcement, according to Dictionary.com. The site asked whether the need for optimization has peaked or whether people will push even harder next year, according to Dictionary.com. That question fits a word that started as slang, became a suffix, and then started standing on its own, according to Dictionary.com. Whatever the answer turns out to be, maxxing already changed how people name the pursuit of more, according to Dictionary.com.