The Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year is different than usual

The Cambridge Dictionary has chosen ‘Manifest’ as its word of the year for 2024. A verb, therefore an action. Not a usual choice. It refers, in particular, to the common practice of using “methods such as mental visualization to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen.” The publisher of the famous and famous British dictionary explained this in an announcement on Wednesday that was reported by CNN. It’s a tool that singer Dua Lipa has used and cited as pivotal in her path to success, explaining how it played a role in helping her to fix moments in her mind that later proved ‘key’ in the continuation of her career, such as her performance at the Glastonbury Festival.

For Dua Lipa it is in fact important to “intentionally set yourself a goal” by thinking about it “every single day of your life. For me it was like this with Glastonbury. When I started making music I dreamed of the day when they would ask me to be a headliner”. The headliner is the one who is entrusted with the salient and most awaited moment of a musical or theatrical event with multiple voices or with multiple guests. “Every time I was in the studio recording I thought… How is this going to sound at Glastonbury? I kind of stuck that idea, that intention, in my mind. I think that’s a really powerful thing.” But CNN recalled how the practice of “Manifest” is frequently applied even by a strong athlete like Sime Biles. In a recent interview, the gymnast explained how her mother encouraged her to write down her goals: “You have to write everything down, you have to say them all the time to make them exist ‘in your mind’ and you have to see all of it. Then usually everything happens.”

But where does ‘Manifest’ come from?

The lexeme comes from Romance languages, but Manifest’ in English originally meant ‘obvious’, ‘evident’. Something that is easily understood. Then it became increasingly used as a verb meaning “to show something clearly”, without frills, exactly as it is. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, at the beginning of the 20th century, the term was used with a new meaning related to the desire to “make something happen by internalizing it, intentionally or unintentionally”. Over the last twelve months the term has entered more and more into society and public consciousness, gaining ever greater resonance. Its use has spread widely on social media but also on more traditional media. ‘Manifest’ was thus introduced into the dictionary in 2023 and, since then, it has been searched for more than 130 thousand times. A year later it was crowned ‘word of the year’ both for its newfound popularity and for “showing how a word can change over time”. A surprise for many who, however, expected to see another entry win, BRAT, so discussed and repeated in recent months. Perhaps, however, if only for its dreamy intent, ‘Manifest’ is a much better choice.