‘Permacrisis’ – which is the feeling of living through a period of war, instability and inflation – is the word that apparently sums up this year most accurately.
Declared Collins Dictionary’s word of the year, lexicographers said it ‘sums up succinctly just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people’.
The word has been increasingly used in the face of rapid political changes, the war in Ukraine, climate change and the cost of living crisis.
Alex Beecroft, head of Collins Learning, said: ‘Language can be a mirror to what is going on in society and the wider world and this year has thrown up challenge after challenge.
‘It is understandable that people may feel, after living through upheaval caused by Brexit, the pandemic, severe weather, the war in Ukraine, political instability, the energy squeeze, and the cost-of-living crisis, that we are living in an ongoing state of uncertainty and worry.