Dictionary.com’s word of the year is ‘xenophobia’
NEW YORK — You might have thought about it, heard it. A lot. You might have even felt it: Dictionary.com’s word of the year is “xenophobia.”
While it’s difficult to get at exactly why people look up words in dictionaries, online or on paper, it’s clear that in contentious 2016, fear of “otherness” bruised the collective consciousness around the globe.
The Brexit vote, police violence against people of color, Syria’s refugee crisis, transsexual rights and the U.S.