Oxford University Press has selected “rage bait” as its 2025 word of the year, the publisher announced on Dec. 1, 2025.

The term is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account,” according to Oxford University Press.

Rage bait won over the other two contenders, bio hack and aura farming, after three days of public voting in which more than 30,000 people participated.

Some critics questioned whether the word of the year should be two words, but Oxford has said “the Oxford Word of the Year can be a singular word or expression.”