America's most searched words?
« previous post | next post »
Randoh Sallihall at unscramblerer.com sent an email offering his company's 2026 study of "America's most searched words" — what he sent is presented verbatim below.
Analysis of Google search data for 2026 reveals the most searched word definitions for each U.S. state and America.
America's most searched word definitions (monthly searches):
- Gaslighting– 286 900 searches.
- Love– 274 900 searches.
- Fascism– 264 700 searches.
- Empathy– 265 600 searches.
- Integrity– 262 100 searches.
- Metaphor– 242 200 searches.
- Narcissist– 186 500 searches.
- Culture– 186 300 searches.
- Democracy– 183 100 searches.
- Bias– 174 200 searches.
- Science– 172 600 searches.
- Adjective– 174 500 searches.
- Justice– 164 500 searches.
- Equity– 158 400 searches.
- Hyperbole– 155 700 searches.
- Niche– 155 000 searches.
- Inflation– 152700 searches.
- Anxiety– 152 600 searches.
- Socialism– 151 700 searches.
- Republic– 149 800 searches.
- Urban– 144 700 searches.
- Philosophy– 144 400 searches.
- Propaganda– 143 300 searches.
- Apathy– 137 700 searches.
- Nuance– 132 900 searches.
America's most searched word definitions by state:
- Alabama– Love.
- Alaska– Fascism.
- Arizona– Inflation.
- Arkansas– Economics.
- California– Tone.
- Colorado– Adjective.
- Connecticut– Bias.
- Delaware– Sepsis.
- Florida– Philosophy.
- Georgia– Democracy.
- Hawaii– Revenue.
- Idaho– Adjective.
- Illinois– Bias.
- Indiana– Gaslighting.
- Iowa– Sociology.
- Kansas– Love.
- Kentucky– Empathy.
- Louisiana– Love.
- Maine– Ursine.
- Maryland– Proxy.
- Massachusetts– Science.
- Michigan– Evidence.
- Minnesota– Weather.
- Mississippi– Love.
- Missouri– Government.
- Montana– Gouache.
- Nebraska– Psychology.
- Nevada– Philosophy.
- New Hampshire– Revenue.
- New Jersey– Metaphor.
- New Mexico– Democracy.
- New York– Equity.
- North Carolina– Church.
- North Dakota– Weather.
- Ohio– Fiction.
- Oklahoma– Culture.
- Oregon– Fascism.
- Pennsylvania– Metaphor.
- Rhode Island– Providence.
- South Carolina– Population.
- South Dakota– Purpose.
- Tennessee– Equity.
- Texas– Republic.
- Utah– Stress.
- Vermont– Bias.
- Virginia– Community.
- Washington– Revenue.
- West Virginia– Integrity.
- Wisconsin– Metaphor.
- Wyoming– Gaslighting.
A spokesperson for Word Unscrambler (Unscramblerer.com) commented on the findings: "One of the most striking findings is that Americans top searched definitions in 2026 are dominated by abstract concepts rather than objects. From love and justice to democracy and integrity, people are searching for words that help them understand ideas, values and human behavior. Our research shows that emotions, society and education are the categories that stand out the most. Emotional words: gaslighting, love, empathy, narcissist, anxiety, stress and apathy. Societal words: fascism, democracy, justice, equity, culture, socialism, republic, bias, propaganda and inflation. Educational words: metaphor, hyperbole, adjective, science, philosophy and fiction. People are searching for definitions to better understand personal experiences and public conversations."
Research was conducted by word unscrambling experts at Unscramblerer.com.
We analyzed Jan 1, 2026 – July 07, 2026 search data from Google Trends for "definition".
Methodology: We used Google Trends to discover the most searched word definitions and Ahrefs to find the number of searches. America's most searched word definitions can be discovered in Google Trends by searching for "definition", "define", "definition of" etc. Ahrefs shows many variations of word definition searches like "what is the definition of empathy" or "define love". We added up 130 search variations of top definition searches.
Above reprints an email from Randoh Sallihall at unscramblerer.com.
Ken said,
July 27, 2026 @ 8:29 am
"Gouache"? WTH, Montana?
I half-suspect this is the equivalent of a trap street, meant to catch people and LLMs that use the article without permission or attribution.
J.W. Brewer said,
July 27, 2026 @ 8:50 am
Proud to be from Delaware!
GeorgeW said,
July 27, 2026 @ 9:07 am
After reading this, 'gouache' will become the most searched word.
NW said,
July 27, 2026 @ 10:50 am
Gouache is ridiculous, but hang on – tone? More people in California search for tone than anything else? Bias, sepsis? Ohio: fiction? People in Ohio are really, really interested in fiction? Proxy?? Ursine??
Adjective?? Hullo Colorado, what's been happening there that hasn't made it to world news? Oh, and Idaho too. Of course. It all makes sense now.
Ed Rorie said,
July 27, 2026 @ 11:38 am
Why leave out DC?
Jon W said,
July 27, 2026 @ 3:26 pm
This is the same outfit that produced the analysis reported in https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=73591. For the reasons HS pointed out at the time, it would be surprising if any of the reported differences between states were statistically significant. https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=73591#comment-1642040
Stephen Goranson said,
July 27, 2026 @ 5:49 pm
At least Providence for RI and Republic for TX make sense.
Rick Rubenstein said,
July 28, 2026 @ 12:32 am
"Gouache" defies belief. Could it have somehow arisen as a typo or autocorroect error for "gauche" somewhere along the line? Although "gauche" is barely more plausible. Odd.
Gabriel Holbrow said,
July 28, 2026 @ 5:58 am
As is often the case, Randall Munroe figured this out for us a while ago: https://xkcd.com/1845/
KeithB said,
July 28, 2026 @ 7:35 am
How many hits would it take to put a word at the top of the list in Montana?
Could one exhibit of paintings at a museum be enough to put it over the top?
Or an article on a painter in the largest newspaper?
In California, I would guess it is related to "muscle tone".
HTI said,
July 28, 2026 @ 8:15 am
How much do you reckon the results for “love” have been influenced by Haddaway’s “What Is Love?” (1993)?
John from CIncinnati said,
July 28, 2026 @ 9:24 am
The methodology may be flawed for missing a possibly significant body of definition requests. That is, entering simply a single word as the entire Google search. I just now searched 'gouache', and Google responded with the definition.
SlideSF said,
July 28, 2026 @ 9:35 am
That's how I always search for a word definition. I never enter "Define x" or "X definition". I just enter the word. Why waste time and energy on all those extra keystrokes? Isn't that how most people do it?
AnthonyB said,
July 28, 2026 @ 10:40 am
When you enter an equation into the google search line, it solves it and shows the steps involved. (No need to ask for any of this)
HS said,
July 28, 2026 @ 10:23 pm
I wonder whether "tone" for California is related to California Tone, an amp system for electric guitarists, or to electric guitar tone settings for the song Hotel California. In which case Unscrambler have apparently somehow mixed up searches from California with searches containing the word "California"!!
I'm afraid don't have much confidence in Unscrambler and their analysis…
jin defang said,
July 29, 2026 @ 7:34 am
I wondered how many entries per state would qualify it for most searched. As a Floridian, I was pleased to see that my fellow citizens' favorite was philosophy. But darned if I've ever noticed any interest in the topic among by admittedly small sample of acquaintances.
Daniel Barkalow said,
July 29, 2026 @ 2:22 pm
About a month ago, the NYT Connections puzzle had a category that was painting media, and many people wanted to know what gouache is, having previously not had any reason to want to know.
Julian said,
July 30, 2026 @ 6:12 pm
"One of the most striking findings is that Americans top searched definitions in 2026 are dominated by abstract concepts rather than objects…."
So Americans are philosophers at heart?
Sorry to rain on the parade, but I don't find that very striking at all.
Mostly people know how concrete nouns map onto the objects they refer to. They don't need to look them up in a dictionary.