Dictionary.com has selected “maxxing” as its 2026 Word of the Year, highlighting a viral online term that links to themes of optimization.
Euronews and CBS News both focus on the announcement itself and describe the term as emerging from internet and social-media use. The Guardian adds broader cultural context, tracing “maxxing” to earlier ideas and related phrases such as “min-maxing” and older references in entertainment and game theory, and frames it as increasingly embedded in everyday life. Rolling Stone also centers the choice of word, quoting dictionary representatives who say it is meant to reflect a society “deeply online” and preoccupied with optimization in multiple areas.
