PARASOCIAL, meaning the link you feel to a star you do not know, has been named a dictionary’s word of the year.
The term, applied to one-sided relationships with the likes of Taylor Swift, fictional characters and even ChatGPT bots, has surged in use.
It was coined in 1956 when sociologists noted TV audiences developed relationships with show characters.
But it was chosen by lexicographers at Cambridge Dictionary because of its spread online this year.
YouTuber IShowSpeed blocked an obsessive fan he called his “number 1 para-social”, while singer Chappell Roan called out her followers’ “creepy behaviour”.
Psychology professor at the University of Cambridge Simone Schnall said: “Many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers.
“This leads to a sense that people ‘know’ them, can trust them and even to extreme forms of loyalty. Yet it’s completely one-sided.”
Colin McIntosh of the Cambridge Dictionary said: “Parasocial captures the 2025 zeitgeist. It’s a great example of how language changes.”
Cambridge chose the word based on the number of its online dictionary searches.
Other contenders were “slop” — low-quality internet content created by AI — and “memify”, to turn an event or image into a meme.
