Ineffable – the most searched word in the Priberam dictionary in 2024
The most searched word on Priberam in 2024 is a word whose definition in the dictionary itself online It is something “that cannot be expressed in words”.
It was the most searched word in the Priberam Dictionary in 2024.
According to the definition of the online dictionary, ineffable is a adjective of two genders:
1. That cannot be expressed in words (e.g.: ineffable pleasure). = indescribable, unspeakable, inexpressible ≠ describable, sayable, expressible.
2. [Figurado] That enchants or delights (e.g.: ineffable perfume). = pleasant, delicious, dazzling, enchanting, intoxicating, inexpressible ≠ unpleasant.
Ineffable is also a male name:
3. [Religião] God. (With initial capital letter).
Excluded from The Year in Words
However, this word is not part of those selected for The Year in Words, since, as the dictionary explains to Lusa, “it does not seem to us that it is linked to any specific event, especially because the searches took place throughout the year and not at a specific moment, like the 24 who are part of the selection”.
For the eighth consecutive year, Agência Lusa joined Priberam to select the most searched words that illustrate the year that is ending.
The 24 words (two for each month) that defined the year – selected, in terms of relevance, from more than a hundred and a half searches that stood out for being carried out at the time the events that gave rise to them were taking place – are available on the website, each illustrated with photographs and news from Lusa about the event in question.
The words are presented in chronological order, from January to December, and each word allows direct access to its meaning in the Priberam Dictionary and the Lusa article about the news that motivated the research.
“The interesting thing about the ‘Year in Words’ is the exercise of connecting events and ideas to keywords and, again, through them, returning to reality and understanding what happened. Or, at least, understand how most people understood or perceived it. A little like a calendar in words“, explained
Month by month
Supplement e Immunity were the words that marked Januarya month in which thousands of police officers demanded a risk supplement identical to that of the Judiciary Police, and in which the president of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, accused on suspicion of corruption, admitted the lifting of his immunity.
The words that characterized February they were Vudubecause of the samba school that won the Rio Carnival with a plot based on the strength of black women and voodoo beliefs, and ‘Persona non grata’classification given by Israel to the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, after he compared Gaza to the Holocaust.
March was defined by the words marchdue to farmers who took a slow march to demand measures against the drought, and legislativefollowing the victory of the Democratic Alliance in the legislative elections.
Em Aprilthousands of people filled Avenida da Liberdade on the fiftieth anniversary of the 25th of April, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended the payment of reparations for crimes from the colonial era, which is why the most searched words were freedom e repair.
The words of May they were western e repudiationregarding the French president, Emmanuel Macron, saying that New Caledonia could not become a “wild west”, and the president of the Assembly of the Republic, Aguiar-Branco, proposing a vote of repudiation against hate speech.
Em Junethe words chosen were asylumbecause, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Portugal received around 2,600 asylum requests in 2023, and far rightbecause thousands of French people demonstrated against the extreme right after the first round of the legislature.
July It was a month marked by words traineira e withdrawalfollowing the sinking of a trawler that caused the death of several fishermen, and Joe Biden’s announcement that he was giving up on the US presidential election and supporting Kamala Harris.
Em Augustthe conquest of bronze by judoka Patrícia Sampaio and silver by cyclist Iúri Leitão in the omnium, at the Paris Olympic Games, dictated the choice of words judoka e of all.
The sparks and ash in the air following forest fires in the center and north of the country and the Israeli cyber attack that caused the simultaneous explosion of thousands of pagers in Lebanon they made spark e pager the highlighted words in the month of September.
The depression that caused heavy flooding, more than 200 deaths and serious damage in southeast Spain and the demonstrations in the Zambujal neighborhood demanding “justice” after the death of a resident shot by the PSP, made depression e Zambujal the words of October.
November It was the month of terms greve e barricadeafter the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, visited INEM following the crisis due to the strike of pre-hospital emergency technicians, and protesters contested the result of the Mozambican elections with barricades in the streets.
Finally, December was marked by restorationdue to statements by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who recalled the Restoration of Independence in Portugal, to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine, and for transitionfollowing the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, which left the country with a transitional government.
The Priberam Dictionary celebrated 15 years and has a renewed interface, easier to use and more optimized for mobile devices. Furthermore, the content increased, with the inclusion of more than 7,300 new entriesaccounting at the time for more than 167,600 entries and more than 273,700 definitions.
