“Sacar” was the most searched word in the online dictionary I’m gaining weight in 2025, without being directly related to any notable event, but many others that reflected national and international current affairs, such as Hindustanis or remission, were highlighted.
“The political crisis in Portugal, triggered by a ‘motion’ that led to the resignation of the government and legislative elections, or the ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza, a city devastated by ‘malnutrition’ that motivated a ‘flotilla’ of humanitarian support, are some of the events this year that influenced searches on Priberam” and that led to the choice of 24 words, made with Agência Lusa, which for the ninth consecutive year joined Priberam to select the most searched words and which illustrate the year that is ending, the two entities clarify in a statement.
The 24 words (two for each month) that defined the year are available on the website oanoempalavras.pteach of them illustrated with photographs and news from Lusa about the event in question, and are presented in chronological order, from January to December, allowing direct access to the meaning of each word in the Priberam Dictionary and the Lusa article about the news that motivated the research.
“Words, or sometimes just one, are also a way of looking at the year that is ending us. The association is instantaneous and clear. Pantheon reminds us of Eça, the motion for the fall of the Government and the elections, the conclave of the new Pope, the derailment of the Glória elevator, the cessation of fire in the war in Gaza and even an unusual hernia takes us to a serious State problem: the health of the President. We went through all this and now the year is here, condensed into 24 words, on 24 magnificent photographs, the best that Lusa has. It is a successful partnership – that of words, of photos, and of Lusa with Priberam”, highlighted Lusa’s information director, Luísa Meireles.
Carlos Amaral, executive director of Priberam, commented, in turn, that this project “shows how the language keeps up with current affairs” and that, with “the collaboration of Lusa, in the quality of news texts and images, searches in the Priberam Dictionary gain contextualization, allowing us to identify trends, concerns and curiosities that mark each year” and offering “a distinct way of reviewing the year in the world around us”.
According to the initiative’s promoters, the 2025 Year in Words offers “a plural vision of the year, crossing politics, diplomacy, culture, art, sport, science, environment and social themes, composing an accessible lexical, photographic and news portrait”.
Scut and Pantheon were the words that marked January, the month in which the public agenda was marked by the end of tolls at SCUT and the transfer of Eça de Queirós to the National Pantheon.
The words that characterized February were rare earths and black smokebecause of the start of talks between Ukraine and the United States about rare earths, and FC Porto’s tribute to former president Pinto da Costa, who died at the age of 87.
March was defined by the words tariffs and motiondue to the imposition of increased import tariffs, by Donald Trump, and the fall of the Portuguese Government, after the failure of a confidence motion.
In April, the Vatican announced a conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor, and a blackout left the Iberian Peninsula without electricity. for several hours, which explains why the most searched words were precisely conclave and blackout.
May’s words were convulsions and labyrinthitisregarding the convulsions captured by Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who died at the age of 81, and the labyrinthitis of the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva.
In June, the words chosen were selfie and atrocitybecause of the episode of a tourist who damaged an 18th century painting when trying to take a ‘selfie’ in Italy, and the UN’s criticism of the criteria applied to atrocity crimes.
July was a month marked by the words jota and taludefollowing the accident that killed footballers Diogo Jota and André Silva and the demolition of tents in the Bairro do Talude Militar, which caused a strong national impact.
In August, the worsening of malnutrition in Gaza and the arsonism responsible for the fires in Portugal dominated humanitarian and environmental concerns, dictating the choice of words malnutrition and arsonism.
The tragic derailment of the Glória elevator and the actions of the Global Sumud flotilla caused derailment and flotilla were the highlighted words in the month of September.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the approval of the law banning the burqa in public spaces made ceasefire and burqa the words of October.
November was the month of terms temperance and bambooafter Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa evoked temperance on the 50th anniversary of the 25th of November and a fire in Hong Kong demonstrated the risks of bamboo scaffolding.
Finally, December was marked by hernia and defaultdue to the news of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s incarcerated hernia, as well as the conviction in absentia in Iran of the Cannes 2025 award-winning filmmaker, Jafar Panahi.
Other research that was highlighted in 2025 on Priberam, and which reflects current affairs, includes indostanics, remission (from the Princess of Wales’s cancer), pneumonia (do Papa Francisco), brutalist and napa (in relation to the Oscars and the Song Festival), verification (on social media), Tripe (of Sporting in the Portuguese championship and cup), reprivatization (of TAP), burger and moderate (episodes of national politics), super typhoon (in Asia), unfounded (comedian sued for sketch was acquitted), megaoperation (Rio de Janeiro police against organized crime group), deaflympic (Portugal won three gold, two silver and one bronze medals at the Deaflympic Games), worker (doctors and SNS) or even general strike.
According to the organizers’ statement, the Priberam Dictionary incorporated nearly 5,000 new words and phrases, more than 6,000 synonyms and 300 antonyms, now totaling more than 172,300 entries and more than 279,300 definitions.
Brazil and Portugal continue to be the first countries on the list of origin of research, with the novelty of China and Singapore occupying 3rd and 4th place, ahead of Angola and Mozambique.
Mobile devices, particularly those based on the Android operating system, led the number of accesses.