Merriam-Webster adds 1,400 words and definitions, from ‘vibe coding’ to ‘Sunday scaries’

Your “Sunday scaries” are now in the dictionary. So are “crashout,” “vibe-coding,” “Promposal,” “cuffing season,” and the “Mandela Effect.”

Merriam-Webster announced Tuesday that it has added 1,400 words and definitions to its dictionary. The update spans social media, technology, food, relationships, and pop culture. If a group chat has ever sent you looking up a term mid-conversation, this batch may help.

Several additions will be familiar to anyone who spends time online. “Looksmaxxing” describes “the practice of taking one or more sometimes extreme or dangerous measures intended to increase one’s physical attractiveness.” “Parasocial” refers to a one-sided emotional connection with a person you don’t know, usually a celebrity or fictional character (for example, I have a parasocial relationship with Taylor Swift).

There’s also a “Rickroll,” a bait-and-switch prank when someone sends you a link promising one thing, but it leads to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” And a “meme coin” is typically a cryptocurrency created as a joke or tribute to an internet meme or celebrity, with very little practical use.

Tech gets its own cluster of entries. Merriam-Webster defines “vibe-coding” as “the act or practice of using an artificial intelligence system to generate computer code.” It also highlighted “AGI” — short for artificial general intelligence — and “uncanny valley,” the unsettling effect of something artificial looking almost, but not quite, human. The dictionary added a noun sense of “compute” for the processing resources needed to run a computer system.

Other additions sound like they came straight from your group chat. “Sunday scaries” describes the anxiety that creeps in as the weekend ends, while “cuffing season” refers to the colder months when people seek a short-term relationship. The update also makes room for food terms like “superfood,” “cake pop,” “bao bun,” and “chili crisp.” Music fans get “yacht rock,” too.

Despite Merriam-Webster calling the update a “glow-up,” inclusion doesn’t mean these terms were invented recently. The publisher says its editors examine evidence that words and meanings have been used widely over time.

“The English language is changing rapidly,” Merriam-Webster president Gregory Barlow said in the announcement. “It’s our mission today—as it has been for almost 200 years—to chronicle those changes.” This update captures some of them, from how people build software to what they feel on a Sunday evening. And if seeing “Rickroll” in the dictionary makes you feel old, at least you can now point anyone who missed the joke to a definition.