The 2012 presidential election helped elevate two hallmarks of the American political lexicon to the top of Merriam-Webster’s Top Ten Words of the Year.

The No. 1 most looked up word on Merriam-Webster.com was socialism (defined as: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods).

Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster, said the website “saw a huge spike for socialism on Election Day itself,” as well as during coverage of healthcare and following the conventions and each of the presidential debates.

No. 2 on the list was capitalism (an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market).

Capitalism also spiked on Election Day and at other times during the year.

The rest of the list consisted of touché, bigot, marriage, democracy, professionalism, globalization, malarkey, schadenfreude and meme.

Sokolowski said meme spiked after Mitt Romney made his regrettable phrase “whole binders full of women” during the third presidential debate, which sparked a surge of parodies on online.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Words of the Year 2012 (Merriam-Webster)

Democrats, Republicans Diverge on Capitalism, Federal Gov't (by Frank Newport, Gallup)

Was Jesus a Socialist? (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)