Popular online dictionary platform Dictionary.com has announced its word of the year for 2024.

The winning word is “demure,” which went viral on TikTok in August 2024, Time reports. The word was made famous by TikToker Jools Lebron, who coined the phrase “very demure, very mindful” through a series of viral videos that were widely shared by other creators.

@joolieannie #fyp #demure ♬ original sound – Jools Lebron

According to Time, Lebron often combined the word with terms like “cutesy” and “considerate,” giving advice on things like “how to be demure, modest, and respectful in the workplace.”

From January to September of this year, Dictionary.com reports that the word Demure saw a 1200% increase in its use in digital online media and had 200 times more searches on Dictionary.com.

Dictionary.com defines the word demure as: “characterized by shyness and modesty, reserved.” However, its online popularity has given it a new dimension, resulting in it being used for everything from driving to eating a doughnut. Additionally, the word evolved to symbolize how a term often associated with submissiveness and restraint can be “empowered,” expressing a “calm confidence,” according to Dictionary.com’s announcement.

According to Time, the platform pointed out that the choice of “demure” reflects a shift in public life, as our collective vocabulary moves away from subject matter focused on isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and towards a greater emphasis on “personal presentation and appearance’, as lived experiences again become the focus.

A few days earlier, the Cambridge dictionary announced that the word of the year, based on data from the most searches on its website, is manifest.