#MeToo Spotlight: Masculinity Pushes “Toxic” As “Word Of The Year” Declared By Oxford Dictionaries 

The word “Toxic” has been defined as the annual “Word of the Year” by Oxford Dictionaries, on the basis of the “the sheer scope of its application that has made it the standout choice”, as reported by Financial Express.

The “Word of the Year” is singled from a shortlist which is drawn from language research that gathers 150 million current English words from web-based publications.

Oxford Dictionaries has said that its research showed that this year more people than ever have been using ‘toxic’ to describe “a vast array of things, situations, concerns and events”.

It added that through its original meaning as ‘poisonous’ the word was used often in the discussions of the health and environment, its metaphoric avatar took off when people started to use it to describe stress in relationships, workplaces, schools and cultures.

Oxford Dictionaries said that the #MeToo movement has “put the spotlight on toxic masculinity” whereas more broadly “the word has been applied to the rhetoric, policies, agendas and legacies of leaders and governments around the globe” in politics.

The Dictionary, a part of Oxford University Press (OUP) of the University of Oxford has in past turned to new words to describe the zeitgeist.