Lookups for 'xenophobe,' 'bigot,' 'fascism' all spike following election 
 
 This Nov. 8, 2016 photo is of a polling place in a bowling alley in Chicago, (Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, AP) 
 
 The same words have been trending on Merriam-Webster since Donald Trump became president-elect and most of them are pretty awful. 
 
 "Fascism," "bigot," "xenophobe," "racism," "xenophobia" and "misogyny" have been the top lookups on the online dictionary websites since just after the election. ("Resurgence" made the list too, but a spokeswoman for the online dictionary says that’s because of the movie.) 
 
 "Let's publish a new Trend Watch today!" 
 
 "But there aren't any new trends. The same words have been trending for almost a week." 
 
 "Oh." https://t.co/nVNJURSkCm — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) November 14, 2016 
 
 According to Merriam-Webster spokeswoman Meghan Lunghi the words have all been trending since Election Day, but those words have also had increased interest over the course of the last year. 
 
 The top three biggest spikes over the last year? 
 
 The word "xenophobe" (“one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin”) has seen the largest increase in the past year —1,980%. 
 
 The word “bigot” (a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc") increased 500%. "Fascism" ("very harsh control or authority") went up 450% since last year. 
 
 Dictionary.com has also noticed an increase in lookups for those words. The words with the biggest increases in lookups over the last week were “electoral vote” and “popular vote." But "xenophobe," "misogynistic," "xenophobia," "divisiveness," "bigot," "secede," "fascism" and "racist" have also all spiked since the election, according to a spokeswoman for Dictionary.com. 
 
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 The word xenophobia, which entered the English language in the late 1800s, finds its roots in two Greek words, xénos meaning "stranger, guest," and phóbos meaning "fear, panic." Dictionary.com users' interest in the overarching themes tied to this term were evident on June 24, 2016, which marked the largest spike in lookups for xenophobia this year; this was the day after the UK voted to leave the European Union as the result of a much-debated referendum, also known as Brexit. Another search trend that was influenced by this vote was user interest in the term hate crime, which soared in the month of July as newspapers covered an increase in crimes motivated by prejudice in post-Brexit UK. 
 
 Days after the Brexit vote, the second largest surge in lookups for the term xenophobia came in relation the 2016 US presidential race. On June 29, President Obama gave a speech in which he insisted that Donald Trump's political rhetoric was not an example of populism, but of "nativism or xenophobia." Unsurprisingly, the largest spike in lookups for the term populism in 2016 occurred on June 30 as a result of Obama's speech. This year in the United States, we saw the rise of the alt-right, white nationalism, and other ideologies that promote fear or hate, especially directed toward Muslims, Latinos, Jews, trans and queer communities, black America, and other nondominant groups. 
 
 Xenophobia manifested itself in other world events over the past year as well. Immigration policies, especially in regards to Syria's refugee crisis, have been front and center in the news worldwide. Because Syria is a majority Muslim country, many criticize anti-immigration policies as Islamophobic. Users of Dictionary.com showed interest in the term burkini for the first time ever this past summer, following legislation in France that was ultimately overturned to ban burkinis, the full-coverage swimsuits favored by many Muslim women. 
 
 "Xenophobia and other words tied to global news and political rhetoric reflected the worldwide interest in the unfortunate rise of fear of otherness in 2016, making it the clear choice for Word of the Year," said Liz McMillan, CEO, Dictionary.com. "While we can never know the exact reasons why xenophobia trended in our lookups this year, this reflects a desire in our users to understand the significant discourse surrounding global events." 
 
 "‪Dictionary.com‪ is right to make xenophobia the word of the year, but it is also one of the biggest threats we face," said Robert Reich, Professor at Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. "It is not a word to be celebrated. It is a sentiment to be fought." 
 
 About Dictionary.com 
 
 Dictionary.com, an IAC (NASDAQ: IAC) company, is the world's leading, definitive online and mobile resource dedicated to helping people master the art of language. We provide tens of millions of global monthly users with reliable access to millions of definitions, synonyms, audio pronunciations, example sentences, translations and spelling help through our services at Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com . Our leading mobile applications for reference and education have been downloaded more than 100 million times. 
 
 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dictionarycom-names-xenophobia-2016-word-of-the-year-300368288.html 
 
 SOURCE Dictionary.com 
 
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– Last year, Dictionary.com chose "identity" as its word of the year because "many of the year's biggest stories focused on the way in which individuals or members of a group are perceived, understood, accepted, or shut out." Along those same lines, the website has this year chosen "xenophobia," citing how coverage of major events of 2016, like "the Brexit vote, police shootings, Syria's refugee crisis, transsexual rights, and the US presidential race" focused "on fear of the 'other,'" per a release. The greatest spikes in searches for the word came after the Brexit vote and after President Obama suggested Donald Trump engaged in "xenophobia or worse" in a June speech, per the Los Angeles Times. However, searches of the word—as well as "xenophobe," "misogynistic," "divisiveness," "bigot," "secede," "fascism," and "racist"—have also spiked since the US election, the website says. Merriam-Webster—which has yet to reveal its 2016 word of the year—has noticed a similar trend. Use of "xenophobe" has increased 1,980% in the last year, use of "bigot" jumped 500%, and use of "fascism" climbed 450%, a rep tells USA Today. "Dictionary.com is right to make xenophobia the word of the year, but it is also one of the biggest threats we face," says a public policy professor at Berkeley. "It is not a word to be celebrated. It is a sentiment to be fought." (Trump also inspired this word of the year.)