"Climate emergency" was picked by Oxford Dictionaries as the word of the year for 2019 after (use) on average 100 times more than in 2018.
Defined as "a situation urgent action is required to reduce or stop climate change and avoid environmental damage resulting from it ", the word became one of the most important (term) of 2019. "Climate" did not have a place in the top words (typical) used to modify (修饰) "emergency" in 2018. Instead, the top types of emergencies that people wrote about (be) health, hospital and family emergencies. But with climate emergency, people saw something new, extension of emergency to the global level. The choice was reflective, not just of the rise in climate awareness, but the focus specifically the language used to discuss it. Oxford said the rise of "climate emergency" (show) an intentional push towards language of urgency.
The dictionary's word of the year is chosen (reflect) attention of the passing year and should have lasting potential as a term of (culture) significance. Previous winners of word of the year include "toxic" in 2018 and "youthquake" in 2017.
