New Delhi: “Rage bait”, defined as online content deliberately crafted to provoke anger or outrage in order to drive traffic or engagement, has been declared Oxford University Press' (OUP) Word of the Year 2025.

Officials said the term was selected after a global public vote that saw more than 30,000 people participate over three days. The shortlisted finalists were “rage bait”, “aura farming” and “bio-hack”. The winner was chosen based on voting patterns, public commentary and OUP's lexical data analysis.

With 2025 marked by debates on online regulation, digital wellbeing and widespread social unrest, the usage of “rage bait” has surged, reflecting a shift in conversations around attention, engagement and ethics online.

A compound of “rage” and “bait”, both dating back to Middle English, the term underscores how online spaces increasingly exploit emotional manipulation. “The rise of 'rage bait' shows how aware we've become of tactics that pull us into engineered outrage,” said Casper Grathwohl, president, Oxford Languages.

He noted that while earlier internet culture relied on curiosity-based clickbait, today's digital environment increasingly hijacks human emotions. “It feels like a progression in the ongoing discussion about humanity in a tech-driven world,” he said.

OUP said last year's choice, “brain rot”, captured the mental fatigue of endless scrolling, while “rage bait” highlights content intentionally designed to spark anger and polarisation.

First recorded in a 2002 Usenet post describing a driver's annoyed reaction to being flashed by another vehicle, the term evolved through internet slang and is now widely used across newsrooms and social media.

“Aura farming” refers to cultivating an attractive or enigmatic persona, while “bio-hack” denotes attempts to optimise physical or mental performance through lifestyle changes or technological means.