CNN —“Demure,” a word that went viral over the summer, has been named Dictionary.com’s 2024 word of the year — beating out other contenders like “brainrot,” “brat,” and “weird.”In an announcement Monday, the site said that the word experienced a “meteoric rise in usage” in 2024 — up 1,200% between January and August — a spike that was largely attributed to TikToker and beauty influencer Jools Lebron’s popularization of the phrase “very demure, very mindful” in a series of satirical videos that shook the internet.
“That’s the joke!”The satire is clearest in a clip in which the TikTok star asserts that she’s going to behave in a demure, mindful way while going out on the Las Vegas Strip.
I don’t dog-ear pages, I put in a bookmark,” RuPaul said in a video promoting online bookstore Allstora.
Lebron, who is transgender, said that the fame from her “demure” videos has helped her finance the rest of her transition.
“Brat,” another word that has taken on new meaning in 2024, was named Collins Dictionary’s word of 2024 for being one of the most talked about words on and offline.
Persons:
“, ”, Lebron, Marge Simpson, Patty, Selma, Demure, ” Dictionary.com, she’ll, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, RuPaul, Kardashian, Patrick Ta, Jimmy Kimmel, Dictionary.com, Collins
Organizations:
CNN, Las
Locations:
“, ”