No, you haven’t gotten sucked into the movie “Groundhog Day” even though it might seem that way right about now. I say that because today we’ll look at another Word of the Year from another dictionary, but rest assured even Bill Murray couldn’t get me to talk about another WOTY for a third week if it was one of the same words we looked at in the previous two columns. It’s not.

This week’s WOTY is from Dictionary.com and is the word “demure,” which the dictionary defines as being characterized by shyness and modesty, and to be reserved.

But “a new usage has spread through social media,” said the dictionary’s lexicographers, highlighting the word’s recent associations with a person’s appearance and the way they act at work or in public places. Just like last week’s word, “manifesting,” “demure” achieved its huge increase in usage thanks to its exploding popularity on social media.

Specifically, “demure” owes its 15 minutes of fame to the early August video posted by TikToker Jools Lebron, who identifies as transgender. In the piece she urges her followers to apply their makeup for work in a manner that is “very demure, very mindful.” That video quickly went viral.

“Between August 2023 and July 2024, there was no significant trend in the usage of the word ‘demure.’ By the week of Aug. 18, 2024, however, there was almost 14 times more interest in the term, highlighting the term’s almost overnight explosion in popularity,” Dictionary.com explained to People magazine.

“‘Demure’ has historically been used to describe discrete and reserved behavior, reported CNN.com, but a new usage has spread through social media,” Dictionary.com said, “highlighting the word’s recent associations with a person’s appearance and the way they act at work or in public places.”

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CNN’s excellent online piece about “demure” did include one slip-up that a couple of sharp-eyed readers pointed out in the “comments” section. The flub occurred in the sentence that said, “’Demure’ has historically been used to describe discrete and reserved behavior . . .” The sentence should have talked about “discreet” behavior.

Both “discrete ”and “discreet” come from the Latin word, “discretus,” which was the past participle of the verb that meant “to separate” and “to discern.” By the 16th century the spelling of the two words had diverged with “discrete” meaning “separate” and “discreet” meaning “unobtrusive.” “An easy trick to tell them apart,” says Merriam-Webster, “is to remember that the “e’s” are separated by the “t” in “discrete.” Now back to the Word of the Year.

Some other words that were on Dictionary.com’s WOTY shortlist this time around are several with which we were already familiar, including “brainrot,” which refers to the effects of spending too much time consuming low-quality content on social media. There was also the politically used  “weird,” which was searched consistently around 200% more often than its synonym “strange” in general. And there was “brat,” which Dictionary.com says was redefined “to refer to someone who is confidently rebellious, unapologetically bold, and playfully defiant.”

Another addition to the shortlist was “extreme weather,” which saw a continued increase in web searches. In January 2024, for example, the term was searched for 70% more than it had been during the previous year.

Also making the list was “Midwest nice.” Even though the term had been around for decades, it gained widespread attention in 2024 when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz became the running mate for presidential contender and Vice President Kamala Harris, “generating,” says Dictionary.com, “discussions about Walz’s pleasant personality.” Which bridges the span between “brat” and “demure” nicely, I’d say.

Jim Witherell of Lewiston is a writer and lover of words whose work includes “L.L. Bean: The Man and His Company” and “Ed Muskie: Made in Maine.” He can be reached at jlwitherell19@gmail.com.

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