"Our Word of the Year for 2018 is justice. It was a top lookup throughout the year at Merriam-Webster.com, with the entry being consulted 74% more than in 2017," the company said in a statement.
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15 December 2018, 16:41 GMT
Explaining its choice, Merriam-Webster said the concept of justice had been at the heart of many of US national debates this year, including racial justice, social justice and economic justice.
"This year’s news had many stories involving the division within the executive branch of government responsible for the enforcement of laws: the Department of Justice, sometimes referred to simply as 'Justice,'" the publishing company noted.
Other words that saw a spike in lookups in 2018 included pansexual, lodestar, epiphany and laurel.
