Dictionary.com has released its “Word of the Year,” for 2017.
Complicit means “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.” Or, put simply, it means being, at some level, responsible for something . . . even if indirectly.
The word complicit has sprung up in conversations this year about those who speak out against powerful figures and institutions and about those who stay silent. As we look at the cultural and political landscape, we ask: “What does it mean to be complicit in 2017?”
Dictionary.com explains that they found that searches for the word “complicit” first spiked around March 12 of this year. This was shortly after it was announced that Trump was firing US Attorney Preet Bharara, Sen. Rand Paul said he wouldn’t vote for the Republican ACA repeal plan, more and more questions arose surrounding a guy named Michael Flynn, and the idiotic claim Trump had made that President Barack Obama had ordered illegal wiretappings against Trump, during the campaign. But according to Dictionary.com, a more satirical motivation may have created this spike in interest.
The first spike in searches for complicit was on March 12, with a 10,000% increase in daily average lookups. This was the day after Saturday Night Live aired their satirical ad featuring Scarlett Johansson playing Ivanka Trump, hawking a perfume called Complicit. This scent was marketed as “The fragrance for the woman who could stop all this, but won’t.”
Other spikes in the word accompanied Ivanka’s statement using the term “complicit” to mean something positive about bringing peace to the world, as well as Sen. Jeff Flake’s use of the word as he bowed out of office—while still showing his very actionable voting complicity across the board. Dictionary.com says that other trending words included things like climate change and carbon dioxide, nazi and anti-fascist.
But Dictionary.com says it did not simply choose the word complicit based on trending searches alone, they chose it because this year is a reminder that we must all pay attention to the places where we live and work, and our own personal potential to be complicit in other abuses of power.
Our choice for Word of the Year is as much about what is visible as it is about what is not. It’s a word that reminds us that even inaction is a type of action. The silent acceptance of wrongdoing is how we’ve gotten to this point. We must not let this continue to be the norm. If we do, then we are all complicit.
As anyone paying real attention to the news already understands, 2017 has shown us all that you can spell the word “complicit” using an R and an E, a P, U, and a B. You’ll also need an L, I, C, and an A and an N.
And here’s Dictionary.com having some fun: