“Maxxing,” the internet slang term that’s been used in just about every conceivable context—looks-maxxing, fertility-maxxing, friction-maxxing, protein-maxxing, status-maxxing, just to name a handful of examples—has officially been selected by Dictionary.com as its 2026 Word of the Year. Disheartening? Yes. Surprising? Not really.

Aside from its pervasiveness across social media, the slang form of “maximizing” was also given Dictionary.com’s top spot this year because of its broader social connotations. It’s “the linguistic manifestation of a culture increasingly preoccupied with getting the most out of everything,” Steve Johnson, director of lexicography at IXL Learning, Dictionary.com’s parent company.…