‘Demure,’ Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year for 2024

THE word “demure” has been all over social media—thanks to transgender content creator Jools Lebron, who is behind the viral “very mindful, very demure” trend on TikTok.

Demure has been used by netizens a lot these days, especially the young generation. 

A Google search of demure would lead to the definition “modest” or “reserved,” but in Gen Zs’ language, it could also mean “slay” or something great.

But more than its popular usage, demure also reveals “stories we tell about ourselves and how we’ve changed over the year,” which is why it was named Word of the Year by Dictionary.com for 2024.

‘Demure’s’ popularity

To pick its Word of the Year, Dictionary.com annually shortlists words that capture “pivotal moments in language and culture” and serve as “a linguistic time capsule” that reflects social trends and global events that happened in a specific year. Last year, its Word of the Year was “hallucinate.”

For 2024, the online dictionary said that its lexicographers, or those who write dictionaries, analyzed “a large amount of data including newsworthy headlines, trends on social media, search engine results, and more to identify words that made an impact on our conversations, online and in the real world.”

Demure was not as popular as it is now from August 2023 to July 2024. But on August 18, Dictionary.com found that there was “almost 14 times more interest” in the word, which eventually led to “200 times more searches” on the online dictionary.

Demure’s usage this year rose to a nearly 1,200 percent in the digital web media alone from January to the end of August—mainly thanks to Jools’ viral TikTok videos that remind everyone to be “very demure, very mindful,” whether they are going to work, onboarding a plane, attending an event, and even doing their makeup.

One of her TikTok clips, which has now amassed over 54 million plays, showed her version of “very demure, very mindful” makeup for work by not putting too much cosmetics but still looking presentable.

“Though the term demure has traditionally been used to describe those who are reserved, quiet, or modest, a new usage has spread through social media — one used to describe refined and sophisticated appearance or behavior in various contexts, such as at work or on a plane,” the online dictionary said on its website.

“This increased focus on public appearance and behavior comes at a time when employees are increasingly returning to offices after hybrid remote work following the pandemic,” it added.

Jools’ “very demure, very mindful” clips have since produced different parodies and even made prominent individuals jump into the trend. Case in point: the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the White House, which posted a photo of smiling U.S. President Joe Biden after “cancelling the student debt of nearly 5 million Americans through various actions.”

Jools’ reaction

On TikTok, Jools shared her reaction to another video, showing an article about “demure” being named the Word of the Year by Dictionary.com and congratulating her for popularizing the word in 2024.

The content creator did not exactly say a word in the clip but she displayed a positive response to the news by smiling and flipping her hair.

Jools, who has 2.3 million TikTok followers, previously said that her “very demure, very mindful” trend changed her life and helped her support her family and her transition financially.

She then encouraged netizens to just upload their video, which could alter the direction of their lives for the better just like it did to hers.