'Maxxing' selected as Dictionary.com word of the year

Daily Mirror, Newswire, Newsfirst, Sri Lanka Mirror, Ada Derana and Hiru News (සිංහල) report that Dictionary.com chose “maxxing” as its Word of the Year for 2026. Daily Mirror and Sri Lanka Mirror describe the choice as reflecting American usage, while Newsfirst characterises the term as having spread beyond internet slang.

Newswire and Sri Lanka Mirror report that the word is shortened from “maximizing” and can stand alone or be attached to another word to mean pursuing something to its fullest or optimizing it. Newswire says the selection drew on search data, social-media trends and news coverage; Sri Lanka Mirror reports that digital media use of the term in August 2026 was nearly 19 times its 2025 monthly average.

Newswire reports examples across different interests and settings: “gymmaxxing” for workouts, “healthmaxxing,” including “proteinmaxxing” and “fibermaxxing,” for wellness, “sleepmaxxing” for sleep, “cozymaxxing” for leisure and “tokenmaxxing” for greater reliance on AI. Newswire also says the term appeared in federal government messaging as “homelandmaxxing.”

Newswire reports that Steve Johnson, Dictionary Media Group’s director of lexicography, said the word stood out for appearing across many kinds of articles and subject areas. Sri Lanka Mirror reports Johnson describing it as a sign of a culture focused on getting more from activities, while noting that some people embrace the impulse, some use it humorously and others use the term to push back against it.

Sri Lanka Mirror reports that Dictionary.com also considered “affordability,” “data centre,” “odyssey” and “unc” among possible selections. It says the site had previously chosen “demure” and then “67” in the two preceding years. Newswire describes a year-round process in which lexicographers track candidate words and assess their appearances in news, social media and online searches.