A pile of dictionaries Image source, Reuters
ByAna Faguy
  • Published1 hour ago

Americans have gone all in on "maxxing", making it the 2026 Word of the Year for Dictionary.com.

Short for maximising, the term "can be used on its own or added to the end of any word to convey you're doing something to the fullest or optimizing it as much as possible", Dictionary.com said in a statement.

It's a major departure from two years ago, when the site, after analysing US social media trends, news stories, and search data, chose demure as word of the year. Last year's was "67".