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Choosing a winner required looking at not only the most searched-for words but also spikesÌý– occasions when a word is suddenly looked up many more times than usual on or around a particular date.Ìý

As Donald Trump, a polarizing candidate was being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on January 22, 2017, searches for the word 'inauguration' on the online Cambridge Dictionary spiked. But so did searches for the word 'populism' because, on that same day, Pope Francis warned against a rising tide of populism in a widely reportedÌýinterviewÌýwithÌýElÌýPaisÌýnewspaper. In mid-March, after another high-profile interview with the pontiff – this time with the German newspaperÌýDie ZeitÌý– searches forÌýpopulismÌýspiked again.

Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Manager at Cambridge ̽»¨Ö±²¥ Press, said: 'Spikes can reveal what is on our users’ minds and, in what’s been another eventful year, plenty of spikes can be directly connected to news items about politics in the US (nepotism,Ìýrecuse,Ìýbigotry,Ìýmegalomania) and the UK (shambles,Ìýuntenable,Ìýextradite). ̽»¨Ö±²¥much-anticipatedÌýTaylor ReviewÌýof working practices in the UK caused the term 'gig economy' to spike in July, and of course the spectacular solar eclipse is reflected in the spike forÌýeclipseÌýon 21 August.

'What setsÌýpopulismÌýapart from all these other words is that it represents a phenomenon that’s both truly local and truly global, as populations and their leaders across the world wrestle with issues of immigration and trade, resurgent nationalism, and economic discontent.'

Populism isÌýdescribed by the Cambridge DictionaryÌýas ‘politicalÌýideasÌýandÌýactivitiesÌýthat areÌýintendedÌýto get theÌýsupportÌýofÌýordinary peopleÌýby giving them what theyÌýwant’. It includes the usage label ‘mainly disapproving’.Ìý

PopulismÌýhas a taint of disapproval because the -ismÌýending often indicates a philosophy or ideology that is being approached either uncritically (liberalism,Ìýconservatism,Ìýjingoism) or cynically (tokenism).

Evidence from the Cambridge English Corpus – a 1.5-billion-word database of language – reveals that people tend to use the termÌýpopulismÌýwhen they think it’s a political ploy instead of genuine. Both aspects of -ismÌýare evident in the use ofÌýpopulismÌýin 2017: the implied lack of critical thinking on the part of the populace, and the implied cynicism on the part of the leaders who exploit it.