It’s that time of year again, when the Cambridge Dictionary announces the word that it feels best defines the last 12 months. For 2025, the winner is, drumroll please… parasocial. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Just as we eagerly anticipate the annual arrival of our Spotify Wrapped, we always look forward to these Word of the Year announcements . But the prevailing reaction here at IFLScience when we learned that “parasocial” had come out on top was one of surprise – surely it must have been crowned Word of the Year before now? Parasociality is, in many ways, a defining concept of this millennium so far, never mind the last year or two.

In case you’re not totally familiar, here’s the Cambridge Dictionary’s definit

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