In 2025, the term is more relevant than ever with the rise of content creators and streamers who give fans access to their daily lives. In television, people have shown deep investment in storylines in popular shows like "The Summer I Turned Pretty," according to the news release.

The Cambridge Dictionary's 2025 Word of the Year is 'parasocial', which means the one-sided connection that people feel with someone they do not know. However, can these parasocial relationships be toxic?

“Slop” means poorly crafted AI content, “memeify”, means to turn an event into a meme, and “pseudonymization” is a form of encryption that turns individual information like names and addresses into a number or name that has no meaning.

Parasocial relationships aren’t new, but social media has intensified them because creators share their lives in ways that feel personal, accessible, and emotionally charged.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce 's love story is now influencing the dictionary. Cambridge Dictionary just announced its 2025 word of the year, revealing it was partially inspired by Swift's lyrics and her much-talked-about engagement to Kelce back in August.