'Gaslighting' is Merriam-Webster's 2022 word of the year

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Merriam-Webster's word of the year.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: All right, Merriam-Webster is announcing its top word of 2022, gaslighting. The word, which is defined as the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, so a 1,740% increase in lookups in 2022. And I was thinking back, I don't know if I've really used this word a lot. I definitely haven't written it in any story at all.

JULIE HYMAN: I think probably it has been misused--

BRIAN SOZZI: Misused.

JULIE HYMAN: --just as much as many multiples of times it's been looked up this year.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah, I think it rose in the ranks of popularity, especially over the course of the previous administration for sure, given the amount of times that I woke up in night sweats sometimes because of just what the president would say over Twitter back then. And that's when we heard more of this word being used. So the rise in the ranks and popularity in searches, but the misuse of it potentially is something to course correct here.

JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, and the origin of gaslighting is actually from a movie from the '40s, I believe.

BRAD SMITH: Oh.

JULIE HYMAN: That's where the movie-- that's where it came from. I think the movie was called "Gaslight." So another one to add to your list-- to your viewing list, guys.

BRIAN SOZZI: That is news you can use. I dig it.

JULIE HYMAN: Sure.