Language of the Day: Word of the Year 2024!
Merriam-Webster’s announced that “polarization” is there Word of the Year for 2024! Read more to learn about what polarization means and how it can be used.
This is an excerpt from the following article: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year
Merriam-Webster’s 2024 Word of the Year is polarization, which happens to be one idea that both sides of the political spectrum agree on. Search volume on Merriam-Webster.com throughout the year reflected the desire of people to better understand the complex state of affairs in our country and around the world.
We define polarization as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”
The word was widely used across the media landscape. Fox News reported that “Vance's debate answer on immigration crisis shows voter polarization,” while MSNBC observed that, “The 2024 presidential election has left our country more polarized than ever.” The word was also used to describe divides beyond the U.S. election, as when Forbes warned that in workplaces, “cultural polarization is becoming a pressing challenge.”
Polarization, and the verb polarize, date back to the early 1800s, when they first described light waves. That physical meaning of polarize—“to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern”—led to the political and cultural meaning that helps define the world today.
The polar in polarization is from Latin polaris, which describes the Earth’s poles. Polaris is also a name for the North Star. The earth’s north pole and south pole also serve as an apt visual representation of this concept.