'Post-truth' crowned Oxford dictionary word of the year

Defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”

Oxford Dictionaries said that the term Post truth was crowned word of the year because it was used a lot in 2016 courtesy of “the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States.”

It seems Brexit and Donald Trump are not only impacting more than just people’s lives, but also the English language.

Other words used a lot this year include:

Woke: Alert to injustice in the society especially racism.

Coulrophobia: Extreme or irritational fear of clowns

Latinx: A person of Latin American origin or descent.

See the info graphic for more words of the year.

The Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year exists as a means of “reflect[ing] the passing year in language,” . Last year word of the year was the “face with tears of joy” emoji.

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