Facing intense backlash and scrutiny from critics who say the reference book publisher had failed to take all words into consideration, Merriam-Webster was accused of bias Monday after officially selecting ‘dictionary’ as its 2025 word of the year. “Merriam-Webster clearly has a pro-dictionary bias that’s preventing it from considering all words equally,” lexicographer Alison Nielsen wrote in a widely shared social media post that lambasted the Merriam-Webster editorial team, claiming its members had allowed a “personal affinity for looking up words” to cloud their judgment.
1

