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And Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2016 is…

Dictionary company Merriam-Webster has announced its word of the year for 2016. The choice is a fitting one for those shocked to see Donald Trump’s remarkable c...
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Dictionary company Merriam-Webster has announced its word of the year for 2016. The choice is a fitting one for those shocked to see Donald Trump’s remarkable campaign for the presidency succeed.

So, without further ado, the word “surreal” is the company’s word of the year for 2016. The adjective is defined by the company as something that has been “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream.”

Here’s a tweet from the company announcing its choice…

In a statement, the company noted that “surreal” is “often looked up spontaneously in moments of both tragedy and surprise, whether or not it is used in speech or writing.”

As CBS News reports, there were “three distinct events this past year that led to the word’s popularity in searches, according to Merriam-Webster: the Brussels terror attacks in March, the failed coup in Turkey in July, and the U.S. presidential election in November.”

Other words that had a good showing in 2016 but failed to claim the title were: “Revenant,” “icon,” “In Omnia Paratus,” “bigly,” “deplorable,” “irregardless,” “assumpsit,” “Faute de Mieux,” and “feckless.”

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