The Merriam-Webster publishing house, responsible for the main English dictionary in the United States, has chosen slope like the word of the year. Although the term does not have a direct translation into Spanish – the closest thing to it would be slop – in today’s cultural context it is used to describe low-quality digital content mass-produced using artificial intelligence.
In practice, slope refers to the proliferation of absurd (and sometimes disturbing) videos and images that saturate social media: from an emotional support kangaroo who can’t travel on a plane, to a baby with his own podcast, to a cat climbing the Eiffel Tower to a golden statue of Donald Trump in Gaza. Basically its usage is similar to that of the word spam to refer to spam. “All material that appears on screen is condensed into just four letters. Slope It looks like something wet, slimy, that you don’t want to touch. Slope It’s something that reverberates and pervades everything,” Merriam-Webster explained of the nomination.
In the 18th century the word was used to refer to soft mud, but by the 19th century it meant food waste or slops. Over time, the term acquired a broader meaning and began to be used to describe something of little value. According to the editor, the objective of choosing slope because the word of the year was to demonstrate that artificial intelligence is far from being a real threat to human creativity due to the low quality of the content it produces; However, in some cases it has had an impact beyond that of a poorly produced image going viral.
Like social media in the past, artificial intelligence has transformed the political landscape. In January 2024, a message circulated that, using artificial intelligence, recreates the voice of Joe Biden and encourages voters to refrain from participating in the New Hampshire primary and to “save their vote” for the November general election. Additionally, during the presidential campaign, manipulated images of Kamala Harris lecturing to a communist audience circulated, which Trump shared, along with other photographs placing her in demeaning positions.
In the count of the most searched words in 2025 on its digital platform, the Merriam-Webster dictionary also highlighted price (tariff in English), due to President Trump’s trade war, and gerrymander (gerrymandering), a political approach that Republicans and Democrats have used in recent months.
About The Author
