Affordability, DOGE and the language that captured American politics in 2025

The Words That Remade America in 2025

There's a peculiar magic to language moments — those rare instances when a phrase or term suddenly captures something we've all been feeling, but couldn't quite articulate, and then refuses to let go. For most of 2025, I found myself cataloging them, watching as new words and reframed ideas metastasized through our politics, our culture, our everyday conversations in ways that felt genuinely consequential.

If I had to identify the single most consequential word of the year ...