‘Gaslighting’, a term that has been searched online more and more, has now been picked as the ‘word of the year’ by America’s oldest dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster.
Searches on its website for the word have spiked by 1,740 per cent in 2022, according to the company.
“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s unveiling.
What is Gaslighting?
Advertisement
To begin with, gaslighting is a form of emotional manipulation, where a person is made to think they are on the wrong end despite them wanting to believe they are right in their thought process.
Gaslighting is a “psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, the uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator,” according to the definition of Merriam Webster.
Further, Psychology Today says that gaslighting is “a form of manipulation where targets are urged to doubt their memories, beliefs, feelings, or sanity.”
Advertisement
What has been the origin of the word?
The word finds its origin in the 1938 play, Gas Light, by British playwright Patrick Hamilton. The play told the story of a husband, whose mysterious activities in the attic led to the house’s gaslights dimming. However, he would convince his wife that the lights are absolutely fine and she cannot trust her own perceptions.
It birthed two film adaptations in the 1940s. One, George Cukor’s “Gaslight” in 1944, starred Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist and Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton. The two marry after a whirlwind romance and Gregory turns out to be a champion gaslighter. Among other instances, he insists her complaints over the constant dimming of their London townhouse’s gaslights is a figment of her troubled mind. It wasn’t.
The term gaslighting was later used by mental health practitioners to clinically describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships.
“There is this implication of an intentional deception,” Sokolowski said. “And once one is aware of that deception, it’s not just a straightforward lie, as in, you know, I didn’t eat the cookies in the cookie jar. It’s something that has a little bit more devious quality to it. It has possibly an idea of strategy or a long-term plan.”
Why has the word suddenly assumed significance at present?
"In this age of misinformation - of 'fake news', conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls, and deep fakes - gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time," Merriam-Webster said in a statement on Monday.
Advertisement
Gaslighting is a heinous tool frequently used by abusers in relationships — and by politicians and other newsmakers.
Further, the death of Angela Lansbury in October drove some interest in lookups of the word. She played Nancy Oliver, a young maid hired by Gregory and told not to bother his “high-strung” wife.
But as Merriam-Webster notes, while the term referred primarily to psychological manipulation in the 20th Century, its modern use is driven by "the vast increase in channels and technologies used to mislead" people, especially in personal and political contexts.
Where can gaslighting happen?
Gaslighting can happen between romantic partners, within a broader family unit and among friends. It can be a corporate tactic, or a way to mislead the public. There’s also “medical gaslighting,” when a health care professional dismisses a patient’s symptoms or illness as “all in your head.”
Advertisement
It can happen between family and colleagues in a situation where one’s opinion is completely dismissed and invalidated.
How is the word of the year chosen?
Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based solely on data. Sokolowski and his team weed out evergreen words most commonly looked up to gauge which word received a significant bump over the year before.
They don’t slice and dice why people look up words, which can be anything from quick spelling and definition checks to some sort of attempt at inspiration or motivation. Some of the droves who looked up “gaslighting” this year might have wanted to know, simply, if it’s one or two words, or whether it’s hyphenated.
Advertisement
“Gaslighting,” Sokolowski said, spent all of 2022 in the top 50 words looked up on merriam-webster.com to earn top dog word of the year status.
Last year’s pick was “vaccine.”
(with AP inputs)
