Do you feel a deep connection with pop stars like Taylor Swift or Lily Allen, even if you’ve never met them?
If you do, then your behavior is “parasocial” and right on trend according to the Cambridge Dictionary, which unveiled the adjective as its word of the year for 2025 on Tuesday.
The lexicographers chose it during a year that they say was marked by interest in the one-sided parasocial relationships people form with celebrities, influencers and AI chatbots.
Parasocial is defined as “involving or relating to a connection a person feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know.”
The term dates back to 1956, when two sociologists at the University of Chicago noticed that viewers were developing parasocial relationships with television personalities, whom they viewed similarly to close friends or family members.
As artificial intelligence becomes more and more a part of people’s lives, “slop,” whose definition is updated, refers to the low-quality AI-generated content that floods the Internet.
Newcomers to the Cambridge dictionary include “skibidi”, “delulu” and “tradwife”.
These three words are among “6,212 new words, expressions and meanings” included in the online dictionary over the last 12 months, the press release said.
The dictionary only adds words that are thought to have “resistance,” according to one of its lexicographers, Colin McIntosh.
“Internet culture is changing the English language, and this effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary,” he said.
The slang term “skibidi” is described as having different meanings, such as cool or bad.
But it can also be used without any real meaning or as a joke, or in sentences such as: “What the fuck are you doing, skibidi?”
“Delulu” would be a play on words on “delusional.”
“Tradwife” is short for traditional wife, meaning “a married woman, especially one who posts on social media, who stays at home to cook and clean.”
Simone Schnall, professor of experimental social psychology at Cambridge University, hailed parasocial as an “inspired” choice.
“We have entered an era where many people are entering into unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers.
“Parasocial trends are taking on a new dimension as many people treat AI tools like ChatGPT as ‘friends,’ offering positive affirmations or as a substitute for therapy,” he added.
