Merriam-Webster Announces ‘Justice’ as Word of the Year

Merriam-Webster has announced its word of the year, which received the honor for some obvious reasons: justice.

Searches for “justice” increased over last year’s by 74% on the dictionary’s website, and as they explain, the issue was clearly on a LOT of people’s minds this year:

The concept of justice was at the center of many of our national debates in the past year: racial justice, social justice, criminal justice, economic justice. In any conversation about these topics, the question of just what exactly we mean when we use the term justice is relevant, and part of the discussion.

This year’s news had many stories involving the division within the executive branch of government responsible for the enforcement of laws: the Department of Justice, sometimes referred to simply as “Justice.” Of course, the Mueller investigation itself is constantly in the news, and is being carried out through the Justice Department. Another big news story included yet another meaning of the word justice, as a synonym or title for “judge,” used frequently during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court.

Other notable words that were searched a lot this year include: nationalism, pansexual, lodestar, respect, maverick, and excelsior.

[photo via Tim Boyle / Getty Images]

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