“Allyship” is Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year — a defining term for a period marked by community organizing, online activism, and protest.
The choice, announced Monday, was inspired both by recent events in the real world, as well as the site’s many related additions to the database this year. John Kelly, Dictionary.com’s associate director of content and education, explained part of the decision in an interview with the Associated Press. “This year, we saw a lot of businesses and organizations very prominently, publicly, beginning efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Allyship is tied to that. In the classroom, there is a flashpoint around the term critical race theory. Allyship connects with this as well,” Kelly told the Associated Press.
Dictionary.com defines allyship as “the status or role of a person who advocates and actively works for the inclusion of a marginalized or politicized group in all areas of society, not as a member of that group but in solidarity with its struggle.” It’s second, more concise definition, is “the relationship or status of persons, groups, or nations associating and cooperating with one another for a common cause or purpose.”
Dictionary.com adds new words reflecting the impact of social justice movements and COVID-19
According to Dictionary.com, the term was recorded as early as the 1800s, but its usage has grown over the years alongside increased social justice organizing. In its press release, the website wrote that the word’s presence in texts has grown by 700% since 2011, and its top related search, leading people to Dictionary.com, was “What is allyship?”
The word’s announcement acknowledged that allyship in practice is often “insufficient and imperfect,” and included a description of “performative allyship” — the term frequently used to describe individuals who claim allyship without actually supporting the community or cause. Dictionary.com wrote that “in this sense, allyship is often considered a status that must be continuously earned.”
This year also marks the first time the website has selected a word that was added to its database in the same year. “It might be a surprising choice for some. In the past few decades, the term has evolved to take on a more nuanced and specific meaning. It is continuing to evolve and we saw that in many ways,” Kelly told the Associated Press. It’s a word that equally summarizes the events of 2021 and reflects the way communities responded to world news.
In 2020, the site released its biggest update in Dictionary.com’s history, which included terms like MeToo and gender diversity, and capitalized the words Black and Pride when referring to Black communities and LGBTQ activism. In March 2021, Dictionary.com added another mass of new words, many of which related to social justice organizing (like overpolice, Critical Race Theory, and BIPOC). And, throughout 2021, it’s continued to update its database with new terms reflecting society’s ever-evolving interaction with activism.
