Humans designate (AI) "slop" as Merriam-Webster's word of the year

The human folks at Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary designate the four-letter word “slop” as word of the year for 2025.

Defined by Merriam-Webster as the digital nonsense that artificial intelligence is known to freely spew at the request of us humans, the noun ‘slop’ is just one of the 300,000 words that can be found in “America's Most Trusted” English-language dictionary.

The term AI "slop" emerged in 2025 as a blunt, mocking label for low-effort, mass-produced content that overwhelms feeds and search results, the dictionary explains.

“We define slop as 'digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.'”

– Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

Less alarmist than warnings about existential AI threats, the term is said to reflect more of a reminder that, despite grand promises, machines often churn out junk rather than genius.

“All that stuff dumped on our screens, captured in just four letters: the English language came through again,” Merriam-Webster’s human editors write in the December 14th "Breaking News" announcement.

The editors go on to describe the “flood of slop” that has inundated our social media feeds over the past 12 months to include “absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, “workslop” reports that waste coworkers’ time… and lots of talking cats.”

“People found it annoying, and people ate it up,” Merriam-Webster says.

In fact, the human editors first poked fun at the word’s meaning on its X account (formerly known as Twitter) over the summer, apparently, falling victim to the “unwanted and unasked for AI-generated content” known as slop.

In the X post, Merriam-Webster highlights the irony of an AI claim that, despite its "strong online presence... award-winning websites and apps... Merriam-Webster does not have an official Twitter account.”

A history of slop

The word “slop” dates back to the 1700s, used as a descriptor for “soft mud,” according to the American word-keepers.

By the 1800s, the word’s meaning had expanded to include food waste, specifically “pig slop,” and later evolved into shorthand for rubbish or something of little value.

In 2025, as generative AI flooded the internet, the word ‘slop’ most certainly has found new relevance.

“Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch,” the editors write. “It seeps, spreads, and leaves a mess behind.”

Other Merriam-Webster top words that were said to have defined 2025 include: ‘gerrymander', 'touch grass', and ‘performative.’

A subsidiary of the 257-year-old Encyclopaedia Britannica company, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary refers to any US English-language dictionary edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster, including any adapted versions.

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