'Manifest' is Cambridge Dictionary's 2024 Word of the Year

"Manifest" has been announced as Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year (WOTY) for 2024.

According to their announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 20, “manifest”—which refers to "the act of using methods such as visualization and affirmation to help you imagine achieving something, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen"—was looked up almost 130,000 times this year on their website.

The word's traditional meanings are "easily noticed or obvious" and "to show something clearly through signs or actions.” In today’s terms, however, you "manifest" when you want to attract something you desire as it's believed that doing so will increase the chances of it coming to life. 

The practice of manifesting became popular in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when internet users would ask for tips on how to manifest anything they want to happen, most especially in love and money. 

In 2024, meanwhile, the word was mostly used in the self-help community, including influential entrepreneurs; athletes like Simone Biles and Ezra Frech who attributed their victory in the recent Olympics and Paralympics to manifesting; and celebrities like Dua Lipa who said she manifested headlining the Glastonbury Festival, which she eventually did in May.  

As the word became hot online, there came some “manifesting influencers” who promote this practice on social media. 

According to Wendalyn Nichols, publishing manager of Cambridge Dictionary, they select WOTY based on user data, zeitgeist or the defining “mood” of what transpired in a particular year, and language.

“Manifest won this year because it increased notably in lookups, its use widened greatly across all types of media, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time,” he added. 

Other words that were shortlisted as the WOTY are "brat"—which was popularized after the release of Charli XCX’s album of the same name—"ecotarian," and "resilience."

Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2023 was “hallucinate,” which refers to false information relating to artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT.