The Word of the Year 2016 is “surreal,” according to Merriam-Webster.
The dictionary chose the word due to how much people used it this year due to the election results and the various celebrity deaths that left many in tears ahead of 2017. Donald Trump upsetting Hillary Clinton and becoming the first non-politician to become a U.S. president led to many using the word “surreal” to describe how it felt to live in what will soon be a Trump America.
The word means “unbelievable” or “fantastic,” and it received plenty of use when the death of Prince hit the media. It was also used during many of the year’s awful tragedies, including the attack in Brussels, the Bastille Day massacre in Nice, the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, and the coup attempt in Turkey.
Dictionary.com chose “xenophobia” as its word of the year 2016, possibly because of how many white nationalist groups and alt-right communities made their voices heard louder than before, instilling fear in minorities of all sorts.
2016 was a year of transition, and a Trump presidency will undoubtedly mark certain major changes in this country due to the return of the Republican party, the movement away from political correctness, and the end of a very progressive era with President Barack Obama.
As surreal as this year was, some are holding on to the hope that a Trump presidency will bring with it a welcome change to the country that will ultimately be for the best, while others can’t help but be concerned of what is to come.
