Manifest has been named by the Cambridge Dictionary as word of the year for 2024 – after celebrities such as pop star Dua Lipa and gymnast Simone Biles used it to describe the mechanism for achieving their success.
The term, which has gained traction on TikTok and other social media, was looked up almost 130,000 times on the dictionary’s website this year. Editors said this made it one of the most-viewed words of 2024.
The dictionary’s publishing manager Wendalyn Nichols added: “Its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events in 2024 and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time.”
During her set, singer Dua Lipa, 29, told festival-goers and TV viewers that she had manifested her headline slot at Glastonbury when she was a child.
Lexicographers say the term “to manifest” has evolved to be used in the sense of “to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief doing so will make it more likely”.
Meanwhile, seven-time Olympic gold winner Biles, 27, has discussed manifestation as a method for achieving goals and has also shared advice on dreaming big and setting targets.
But Dr Sander van der Linden, author of The Psychology of Misinformation and professor of social psychology at Cambridge University, cautioned that the idea of manifesting success has no scientific validity.
He said: “Manifesting is what psychologists call ‘magical thinking’ or the general illusion specific mental rituals can change the world around us. [It] gained popularity during the pandemic on TikTok, including the 3-6-9 method, which calls for writing down your wishes three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon and nine times before bed.
“This promotes obsessive and compulsive behaviour with no discernible benefits. But can we really blame people for trying it, when celebrities have been openly ‘manifesting’ their success?
“There is good research on the value of self-affirmation and goal-setting. [But] it is crucial to understand the difference between the power of positive thinking and moving reality with your mind.”
The oldest sense of the word – which English poet Geoffrey Chaucer spelled as “manyfest” in the 14th century – is the adjective meaning “easily noticed or obvious”.
The verb is often used: people can manifest dissatisfaction, or symptoms of an illness can manifest themselves.
The noun manifesto is a written statement of the aims of a group or political party.
