Vibe coding, a term capturing the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to write computer code, has been named Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2025, reflecting society’s evolving relationship with technology and a broader cultural shift towards AI-assisted everything in everyday life.
Coined by AI pioneer Andrej Karpathy, vibe coding refers to telling a machine what you want rather than painstakingly coding it yourself — programming by vibes, not variables. The announcement was made on 6 November 2025.
Much of the Collins Word of the Year shortlist reflects a further shift towards a tech-dominated world, whilst runners-up also reveal a society grappling with authenticity in an increasingly performative world.
The nine runner-up words are:
Aura farming: The deliberate cultivation of a distinctive and charismatic persona that looks effortless but is anything but. This Gen Z phenomenon exploded after a viral video of an Indonesian boy exuding calm confidence whilst dancing during a boat race.
Taskmasking: Giving the false impression of productivity by typing furiously on irrelevant documents or scheduling pointless meetings. Similar to 2022’s “quiet quitting”, it’s a quiet rebellion against return-to-office mandates that value presence over actual output.
Broligarchy: A term labelling the small clique of very wealthy tech billionaires wielding outsized political influence. With figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg seated prominently at the presidential inauguration, the word captures growing unease about concentrated power in the hands of a few men who operate at the intersection of technology, wealth and politics.
Biohacking: The activity of altering the natural processes of one’s body in an attempt to improve one’s health and longevity. From cryotherapy to nutrigenomics, the quest for optimisation has gone mainstream in 2025.
HENRY: An acronym for “high earner, not rich yet”, describing high earners who haven’t accrued substantial wealth despite impressive incomes, caught between student debt, high living costs and lifestyle expectations that keep genuine wealth just out of reach.
Micro-retirements: Career breaks between periods of employment taken to pursue personal interests rather than waiting decades for a retirement that might never happen. Burnout has driven particularly Gen Z and millennial workers to hit pause, travel, recharge or simply remember what life feels like when not always “on”.
Coolcations: Holidays in places with cool climates. As heatwaves make traditional summer destinations unbearable, people are flocking to Norway, Iceland, and Scotland instead of traditional sunny beach holiday destinations.
Glaze: To praise or flatter excessively, often undeservedly. “Stop glazing” has become Gen Z shorthand for calling out sycophants, a demand for realness in a world full of performative praise.
Clanker: A derogatory term for computers, robots or sources of artificial intelligence. Originating from the Star Wars franchise in the mid-noughties and embraced by a generation watching AI take entry-level jobs and creative opportunities, it’s both a joke and a coping mechanism.
The Collins Dictionary notes that this year’s shortlist speaks to fundamental tensions: embracing AI and technology while simultaneously resisting it, chasing authenticity while polishing public personas, and optimising bodies and bank balances while acknowledging burnout.
