Do you think 2017 has been a pretty challenging year for the world? You’re not alone. Dictionary.com named its “word of the year” today. It’s choice? Complicit.
The site announced its word of the year with a Trump joke, first suggesting it had selected covfefe for this year’s honor, although this year’s word choice is certainly Trump focused.
We're so excited to announce that the Word of the Year is covfefe!
JUST KIDDING! But it is complicit. https://t.co/duT1xbaA5D#Complicit #WordOftheYear #ScaredYouDidntWe pic.twitter.com/P8fIL5LKOk
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) November 27, 2017
The site defines complicit as an adjective that means “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity.”
Interest in the word spiked on April 5 of this year when Ivanka Trump told CBS This Morning “I don’t know what it means to be complicit” when asked if she and her husband were complicit in the actions of her father.
The word also saw a search bump last month on October 24th when Senator Jeff Flake announced his retirement and said “I will not be complicit.”
“Our choice for Word of the Year is as much about what is visible as it is about what is not,” reads Dictionary.com‘s announcement post for the word. “It’s a word that reminds us that even inaction is a type of action. The silent acceptance of wrongdoing is how we’ve gotten to this point. We must not let this continue to be the norm. If we do, then we are all complicit.”