Stars ‘manifested’ Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year

Manifest has been named Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year for 2024, despite academics questioning the science behind the term. 

The word soared in popularity on TikTok after celebrities such as pop star Dua Lipa and gymnast Simone Biles spoke of manifesting their own successes.

People looked the word up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website this year – which equates to more than 350 times a day. 

Editors said this made it one of the most-viewed words of 2024.

Lexicographers said the term ‘to manifest’ has evolved to be used in the sense of ‘to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen’.

Dua Lipa said she had ‘manifested’ her headline slot at Glastonbury Festival, announcing on the Pyramid Stage in June: ‘I’ve written this moment down and wished for it and dreamt it and worked so hard.’

And she previously told TIME magazine: ‘Manifesting is a big thing for me.’

Wendalyn Nichols, Publishing Manager of the Cambridge Dictionary, said the word manifest had ‘increased notably in lookups’ this year.

‘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,’ she said.

However, academics have cautioned that the idea of manifesting success has no scientific validity.

Dr Sander van der Linden, author of The Psychology of Misinformation and Professor of Social Psychology at Cambridge University, said: ‘Manifesting is what psychologists call ‘magical thinking’ or the general illusion that specific mental rituals can change the world around us. 

‘Manifesting gained tremendous popularity during the pandemic on TikTok with billions of views, including the popular 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 procedure promotes obsessive and compulsive behaviour with no discernible benefits.

‘But can we really blame people for trying it, when prominent celebrities have been openly ‘manifesting’ their success?

‘”Manifesting” wealth, love, and power can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointment.

‘Think of the dangerous idea that you can cure serious diseases simply by wishing them away.

‘There is good research on the value of positive thinking, self-affirmation, and goal-setting.

‘Believing in yourself, bringing a positive attitude, setting realistic goals, and putting in the effort pays off because people are enacting change in the real world.

‘However, it is crucial to understand the difference between the power of positive thinking and moving reality with your mind – the former is healthy, whereas the latter is pseudoscience.’

The oldest sense of the word manifest – which English poet Geoffrey Chaucer spelled as ‘manyfest’ in the 14th century – is the adjective meaning ‘easily noticed or obvious’.

In the mid-1800s, this adjective sense was used in American politics in the context of ‘manifest destiny’, the belief that American settlers were clearly destined to expand across North America.

Chaucer also used the oldest sense of the verb ‘manifest’, ‘to show something clearly, through signs or actions’.

Shakespeare used manifest as an adjective in The Merchant of Venice: ‘For it appears, by manifest proceeding, that…thou hast contrived against the very life of the defendant’.

The verb is still used frequently in this way: for example, people can manifest their dissatisfaction, or symptoms of an illness can manifest themselves.

Lack of confidence in a company can manifest itself through a fall in share price.

The meaning of making something clear is reflected in the related noun ‘manifesto’: a ‘written statement of the beliefs, aims, and policies of an organization, especially a political party’.