Merriam-Webster says that although the term is not new, it was still very popular in 2022.
This week, the dictionary company announced that “gaslighting” was the word of the year, with online searches of it up 1,740% over last year.
This could just be an indication of times with these mind-shaking current events.
The term can be a verb, as in: John was gaslighting Mary into thinking she was losing her mind. The term can also be used as a noun. As an example: Gaslight illuminated homes in Olden Times.
It is this verb, however that captivates Merriam Webster’s Internet Dictionary. It is defined as: “To psychologically manipulate (a person), usually over an extended period of time, so that the victim questions the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories, and experiences confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, and doubts their own emotional or mental stability.”
That explanation could also explain terms such as “fake news” “deepfake” entering the modern lexicon.
Gaslighting is a 1938 play “Gaslight,” The story tells the tale of a man who makes his wife believe she is insane by making the gaslights in their house dimmed, then turning them back up while telling her that there’s nothing wrong.
Ingrid Bergman portrayed the tortured wife, who believes she’s losing her mind, and won her first Oscar for her portrayal. It became a timeless classic directed by George Cukor.
This term was popularized by society as it describes what women experience in abusive relationships. Partners isolate their wives from family, friends and destroy their self-confidence.
The year 2012 “medical gaslighting” was used to refer to doctors who ignore or downplay the psychological and medical symptoms of minorities and women.
The runner-ups were also included in the word of 2012 competition “Omicron,” “oligarch,” “cancel culture.”
Find Searches “oligarch,” for example, jumped 621% as sanctions against Russian billionaire supporters of the Kremlin followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Look-ups are available for “gaslighting” The year ended with a steady increase in the average value, without any spikes due to current events.
“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, told The Associated Press.
“”It was a word that I looked up often every day,” he stated.