Dictionary.com has chosen “bluster” as its 2012 Word of the Year.
The company analyzed data derived from users’ search activities on the site and consulted with lexicographers to make this selection. The word carries two different definitions: “to roar and be tumultuous, as wind” and “to be loud, noisy, or swaggering; utter loud, empty menaces or protests.”
Oxford Dictionaries picked “GIF” as its Word of the Year for the United States this year.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Dictionary.com head of content Jay Schwartz explained: “We liked the the double meaning of weather and communication…Obviously the most historical events [this year] were the election, and weather events… [There has been] a remarkable volume of different kinds of bluster across the political and cultural spectrum.”