The controversial international pattern of manifesting has earned ‘Manifest’ the title of Cambridge Dictionary’s Phrase of the 12 months for 2024. The time period was searched almost 130,000 instances on the Cambridge Dictionary web site, making it one of the crucial considered phrases of the yr.
Initially popularised inside the self-help group and on social media, the phrase has gained widespread use in mainstream media, with celebrities like singer Dua Lipa, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, and England striker Ollie Watkins sharing how they manifest their success in 2024. Mentions of the time period surged in the course of the pandemic and have continued to develop, significantly on TikTok and different social media platforms, the place hundreds of thousands of posts and movies have used the hashtag #manifest.
On this context, “to manifest” refers back to the apply of visualizing the achievement of a objective, with the idea that doing so will increase the probability of it taking place. Nevertheless, manifesting stays an unproven idea that originated from a century-old non secular philosophy motion.
Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Supervisor of the Cambridge Dictionary, mentioned: “After we select a Cambridge Dictionary Phrase of the 12 months, we have now three concerns: What phrase was regarded up essentially the most, or spiked? Which one actually captures what was taking place in that yr? And what’s fascinating about this phrase from a language viewpoint?
“Manifest” received this yr as a result of it elevated notably in lookups, its use widened enormously throughout all kinds of media attributable to occasions in 2024, and it reveals how the meanings of a phrase can change over time.”
Nevertheless, consultants warn that “manifesting” has no scientific validity, regardless of its reputation. It might probably result in dangerous behaviour or the promotion of false and harmful beliefs, comparable to that ailments may be merely wished away.
Dr Sander van der Linden, writer of The Psychology of Misinformation and Professor of Social Psychology on the College of Cambridge, mentioned: “Manifesting is what psychologists name ‘magical considering’ or the overall phantasm that particular psychological rituals can change the world round us.
“Manifesting gained large reputation in the course of the pandemic on TikTok with billions of views, together with the favored 3-6-9 technique which requires writing down your needs 3 times within the morning, six instances within the afternoon and 9 instances earlier than mattress. This process promotes obsessive and compulsive behaviour with no discernible advantages. However can we actually blame individuals for making an attempt it, when distinguished celebrities have been brazenly ‘manifesting’ their success?
“‘Manifesting’ wealth, love, and energy can result in unrealistic expectations and disappointment. Consider the harmful thought that you would be able to treatment severe ailments just by wishing them away.
“There may be good analysis on the worth of optimistic considering, self-affirmation, and goal-setting. Believing in your self, bringing a optimistic perspective, setting reasonable targets, and placing within the effort pays off as a result of persons are enacting change in the actual world. Nevertheless, it’s essential to grasp the distinction between the ability of optimistic considering and shifting actuality together with your thoughts – the previous is wholesome, whereas the latter is pseudoscience.”
‘Manyfest’, manifest future, and manifestos
The 600-year historical past of the phrase “manifest” reveals how the meanings of a phrase can evolve. The oldest sense – which Geoffrey Chaucer spelled as “manyfest” within the 14th century – is the adjective which means ‘simply observed or apparent’.
Within the mid-1800s, this adjective sense was utilized in American politics within the context of “manifest future”, the idea that American settlers have been clearly destined to broaden throughout North America.
Chaucer additionally used the oldest sense of the verb “manifest”, ‘to indicate one thing clearly, via indicators or actions’. Shakespeare used manifest as an adjective in The Service provider of Venice: “For it seems, by manifest continuing, that…thou hast contrived towards the very lifetime of the defendant”.
The verb continues to be used continuously on this method: for instance, individuals can manifest their dissatisfaction, or signs of an sickness can manifest themselves. Insecurity in an organization can present itself via a fall in share worth.
The which means of constructing one thing clear is mirrored within the associated noun “manifesto”: a ‘written assertion of the beliefs, goals, and insurance policies of a company, particularly a political occasion’ – a phrase that additionally resonated in 2024 as scores of countries, together with the UK and India, held elections the place events shared manifestos.
Different phrases of 2024
The Cambridge Dictionary is the world’s hottest dictionary for learners of the English language. Will increase and spikes in lookups mirror international occasions and developments. Past “manifest”, different well-liked phrases in 2024 included:
- brat: a toddler, particularly one who behaves badly
- “Brat” went viral in the summertime of 2024 because of pop artist Charli XCX’s album of the identical title about nonconformist ladies who reject a slim and extremely groomed feminine id as portrayed on social media. (We weren’t the one dictionary writer to note this.)
- demure: quiet and effectively behaved
- Influencer Jools Lebron’s satirical use of “demure” in a TikTok submit mocking stereotypical femininity drove lookups within the Cambridge Dictionary. After brat summer season, we had a demure fall.
- Goldilocks: used to explain a scenario by which one thing is or must be precisely proper
- Monetary reporters characterised India’s robust progress and average inflation as a Goldilocks financial system in early 2024.
- ecotarian: An individual who solely eats meals produced or ready in a method that doesn’t hurt the atmosphere
This time period rose in general lookups in 2024, reflecting rising curiosity in environmentally aware residing.
All yr spherical, Cambridge Dictionary editors observe the English language because it modifications. Newly rising phrases which are being thought of for entry are shared each Monday on the Cambridge Dictionary weblog, About Phrases.