LONDON, Nov 20 : The word “manifest”, which has evolved with its use by celebrities to mean imagining an achievement in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen, was on Wednesday revealed as the Word of the Year by ‘Cambridge Dictionary’.
The dictionary noted that the word had jumped from use in the self-help community and on social media to being widely used across mainstream media and beyond, as celebrities such as singer Dua Lipa and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles spoke of manifesting their success in 2024.
Mentions of it gained traction during the COVID pandemic and have grown in the years since, especially on TikTok and other social media channels where millions of posts and videos are branded #manifest.
Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Manager at the ‘Cambridge Dictionary’, revealed three criteria for choosing their Word of the Year: What word was looked up the most, or spiked? Which one really captures what was happening in that year? And what is interesting about this word from a language point of view?
“Manifest won this year because it increased notably in lookups, its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events in 2024, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time,” said Nichols.
However, experts warn that despite its popularity, “manifesting” has no scientific validity. The use of the phrase “to manifest” in the sense of “to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen” is dubbed an unproven idea that grew out of an age-old spiritual philosophy movement.
“Manifesting is what psychologists call ‘magical thinking’ or the general illusion that specific mental rituals can change the world around us,” said Dr Sander van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
“Manifesting gained tremendous popularity during the pandemic on TikTok with billions of views, including the popular 3-6-9 method which calls for writing down your wishes three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon and nine times before bed. This procedure promotes obsessive and compulsive behaviour with no discernible benefits. But can we really blame people for trying it, when prominent celebrities have been openly ‘manifesting’ their success,” questioned the author of ‘The Psychology of Misinformation’.
He cautions that “manifesting” wealth, love, and power can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointment.
He added: “Think of the dangerous idea that you can cure serious diseases simply by wishing them away. There is good research on the value of positive thinking, self-affirmation, and goal-setting. Believing in yourself, bringing a positive attitude, setting realistic goals, and putting in the effort pays off because people are enacting change in the real world.
“However, it is crucial to understand the difference between the power of positive thinking and moving reality with your mind – the former is healthy, whereas the latter is pseudoscience.”
The 600-year history of the word “manifest” shows how the meanings of a word can evolve. The oldest sense – which English author Geoffrey Chaucer spelt as “manyfest” in the 14th century – is the adjective meaning ‘easily noticed or obvious’. The meaning of making something clear is reflected in the related noun “manifesto”: a “written statement of the beliefs, aims, and policies of an organisation, especially a political party” – a word that also resonated in 2024 as scores of nations, including the United Kingdom and India, held elections where parties shared manifestos, ‘Cambridge Dictionary’ experts point out.
Beyond “manifest”, other popular terms in 2024 include “brat” – beyond its meaning of a badly behaved child to encompass non-conformist women thanks to popstar Charli XCX’s album by that name, and “demure” – enhancing its traditional meaning as quiet and well behaved to include mocking stereotypical femininity. Ecotarian, a person who only eats food produced or prepared in a way that does not harm the environment; quishing, the scam of phishing via QR code; resenteeism, to continue doing your job but resent it; and gymfluencer, a social media influencer whose content is focused on fitness or bodybuilding, are among some of the other popular and newly emerging words of the year. (PTI)
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