Collins Dictionary names ‘lockdown’ as word of the year

A BBC report further states that the non-virus related words signify the socio-political climate of this year, relevant in abbreviations like BLM", which stands for the Black Lives Matter movement

Lockdown has come to represent a way of life. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

If there is a word which gained immense prominence this year, it has to be ‘lockdown’. And quite expectantly, lockdown has been chosen as the word of the year by Collins Dictionary.

A report in The Guardian quotes Collins dictionary defining the word as “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces”. The same report informs that the usage of the word has increased considerably and “registered a 6,000% increase in its usage”. Last year instances of lockdown being used were recorded at a 4,000. By 2020, it has increased to a “more than a quarter of a million”.

“Language is a reflection of the world around us and 2020 has been dominated by the global pandemic. We have chosen lockdown as our word of the year because it encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict their daily lives in order to contain the virus. Lockdown has affected the way we work, study, shop, and socialise. With many countries entering a second lockdown, it is not a word of the year to celebrate but it is, perhaps, one that sums up the year for most of the world,” Collins language content consultant Helen Newstead was quoted as saying.

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A report in BBC further states that the non-virus related words signify the socio-political climate of this year, relevant in abbreviations like BLM”, which stands for the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Collins, there has been a 581% increase in its usage.

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