Feeling attached to celebrities you’ve never met? That “parasocial” bond is now the Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2025.

Lexicographers said the choice reflects a growing fascination with one-sided relationships people form with celebrities, influencers and even AI chatbots.

“Parasocial” is defined as “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know”.

The concept dates back to 1956, when two University of Chicago sociologists observed television audiences forming bonds with on-screen personalities, treating them almost like friends or family members.

The rise of artificial intelligence also influenced this year’s lexical choices. “Slop”—newly updated in the dictionary—refers to the flood of low-quality AI-gen

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