‘Demure’ Crowned Dictionary.com’s Word Of The Year for 2024

A very mindful Dictionary.com named its 2024 word of the year this week: “demure,” which has enjoyed a surge in popularity, and assumed new layers of meaning, since TikTok influencer Jools Lebron used it in an August post that went hugely viral.

In Lebron’s original satirical TikTok video, which has amassed more than 54 million views, the content creator shares how she ensures an understated workplace persona.

The “very demure, very mindful” catchphrase went on to appear in many thousands of videos, with multiple companies and brands deploying it in marketing campaigns and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez hopping on the trend.

At the height of the “very mindful, very demure” craze, the word demure had 200 times more searches on Dictionary.com than it did on dates before August, the site said in a Monday statement announcing its word of the year.

“Demure” typically describes someone who’s reserved and modest, but Lebron used it humorously in a way that appeared to challenge and poke fun at widespread societal expectations of how women are supposed to look and behave.