A new year brings a commitment to change and improvement for many people. With that in mind, we’d like to kick off 2022 by actively questioning the use of certain words—and what is meant—so that we can continue to improve by phasing out terms that might be overused, harmful, or inaccurate.
Some of the items on this list may not seem inherently negative, but it’s important to recognize and understand where they could cause unintended damage or disservice.
In keeping with tradition, we used our network to crowdsource possible entries for 2022. Some of the submissions that garnered the most support or mentions—notably pivot, unprecedented, new normal, and now more than ever—were on our 2021 list, so we did not include them here. Others, such as at-risk, circle back, and disrupt, are captured in our Words to Avoid Glossary. The following list represents terms and phrases that are (mostly) new to our annual discussion.
