“Petfluencer” and “rage farming” among new words added to Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com has released its semi-annual list of new additions, bringing words like “hellscape” and “petfluencer” to the internet’s dictionary. 

In addition to adding new words, the update also adds or revises definitions for existing words and changes some spellings. 

“Words that are new to the dictionary are not always new to the language (or even remotely recent),” the site said in a news release. 

The update, published on Feb. 28, includes 313 new words. Many words address modern situations. For example, “rage farming” is the tactic of using inflammatory content to garner a response on social media and “pinkwashing” refers to the way corporations superficially acknowledge and support LGBTQ+ rights while also supporting anti-LGBTQ causes. 

Other words like “hellscape,” are more common on social media as a descriptor of the current state of the world. Some phrases describe uniquely 2023 phenomena, like “petfluencers” — online influencers who use their pets or animals to gain a large following. 

Bread also played a big role in this update: Eleven different types of bread were given new or revised entries. 

The update also included 1,140 revised or expanded definitions, changing how words like “sex” and “woke” are defined by the dictionary. 

There are also 130 new definitions included in the list.