If you feel like Taylor Swift is your friend despite the fact that you’ve never met her, then the Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year is for you.
The word is “parasocial” and, according to the dictionary’s publisher Cambridge University Press & Assessment, refers to “a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc. or an artificial intelligence.”
A press release explains that “millions of fans related to Taylor Swift’s confessional lyrics about dating, heartbreak and desire,” so when Taylor and Travis Kelce announced their engagement, many fans celebrated the news as though it came from their best friends.
The Taylor/Travis moment helped drive spikes in lookups for “parasocial” on the Cambridge Dictionary website, which led to it being crowned word of the year.
But the dictionary also notes that millions of people have formed parasocial relationships with other singers or celebrities, podcast hosts and even ChatGPT.
Colin McIntosh, of the Cambridge Dictionary, said, “Parasocial captures the 2025 zeitgeist. It’s a great example of how language changes. What was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream.”
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