New words – 29 December 2025

On December 29, 2025December 18, 2025 By Cambridge WordsIn New wordsLeave a comment

frost-jacking noun [U]
UK /ˈfrɒstdʒæk.ɪŋ/ US /ˈfrɑːstdʒæk.ɪŋ/
the act of stealing a car that has been left unattended with the engine running to defrost it in very cold weather

Drivers have been issued a warning after three cars were stolen during a “frost-jacking” spree in Fife on Friday. The thefts occurred between 8am and 8.50am while the vehicles were left defrosting outside properties. Detective inspector Sammi Davidson said: “With temperatures expected to remain low I would urge residents not to leave their cars unattended as it only takes seconds for an opportunist to take the vehicle.”
[news.stv.tv, November 2025]

See also carjacking

ghost charging noun [U]
UK /ˈgəʊst ˌtʃɑː.dʒɪŋ/ US /ˈgoʊst ˌtʃɑːr.dʒɪŋ/
the act of using a charging bay for an electric vehicle as a parking space and not actually charging your car while you are parked there

Ghost charging is when an EV driver uses a dedicated charging bay simply to take a handy parking space. They park up and plug in when they don’t need to charge, to the annoyance of other EV drivers who do need to charge.
[www.petalite.io, 2 April 2025]

T-plate noun [C]
/ˈtiːpleɪt/
a square, white sign with a green letter T on it, attached to the back and the front of a vehicle that is being driven by a tourist in an area where road accidents are frequent

Tourists driving in the Highlands are being encouraged to display “T-plates” in the hope it will reduce accidents. The signs are intended to alert other road users that the driver might not be familiar with Scotland’s roads. It comes after Transport Scotland warned earlier this year that the number of crashes caused by “inexperience of driving on the left” had increased sharply.
[bbc.co.uk/news, 11 September 2025]

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Red-hot and roasting: words for describing things that are hot.

On December 24, 2025December 18, 2025 By Liz WalterIn Synonyms, the English language, VocabularyLeave a comment

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By Liz Walter

There are a lot of words for talking about temperature in English. Many of them describe particular types of thing. For example, some adjectives can be used to describe the weather but not food or people. This post is the first of a pair, and looks at some common words for things that are hot or warm.

I’ll start with red-hot, which is an emphatic word for something that is extremely hot. We use this adjective for objects, often metal objects, and not usually for weather or food:

Don’t touch that saucepan – it’s red-hot!

We talk about blistering or scorching (hot) weather, but we don’t usually use these words to talk about how people feel when they experience it:

They worked all afternoon in the blistering heat.

It was a scorching hot day.

There are however several words that can refer to both hot weather and the way we feel in it. These include baking (hot), boiling (hot), roasting (hot) and sweltering:

Everyone on the train was baking, but we couldn’t turn the heaters off.

It’s boiling hot here in the summer.

There was no shade on the beach and we were roasting.

We were forced to walk miles in the sweltering heat.

Scalding is an emphatic word used for liquids and implies that they will hurt you if you touch them. On the other hand, piping (hot) usually describes food or drink and is a rather positive description:

She accidentally put her hand in the scalding water.

Make sure the food is piping hot before you eat it.

If someone is too hot because they are ill, we say they have a temperature/are running a temperature, and if they are very hot because of a fever, we might say that they are burning (up):

Tom was running a temperature and feeling very ill.

She was burning up in the night.

If something is warm, it is fairly hot but not very hot. This word usually describes a pleasant temperature. Two more positive words are toasty, which usually describes a person’s body or sometimes a place that is comfortably warm, and balmy, which describes warm weather:

Make sure you stay warm if you’re going out in the snow.

My thick coat kept me toasty.

It was a balmy afternoon and we sat outside.

If you have found these words useful, look out for my next post, which will look at some of the words that describe things that are cold, or only slightly warm.

New words – 22 December 2025

On December 22, 2025December 18, 2025 By Cambridge WordsIn New words, the English languageLeave a comment

Yurii Yarema / iStock / Getty Images Plus

quiet cracking noun [U]
/ˌkwaɪ.ət ˈkrækɪŋ/
the situation where an employee keeps coming into work and doing their job, but feels privately unhappy and disengaged

Quiet cracking is when workers continue to show up to work and do their job but “struggle in silence while they do it”, according to Frank Giampietro, EY Americas chief wellbeing officer. In an interview with Business Insider, Giampietro said a lot more workers who wanted to leave were feeling trapped in their current roles as a result of the current hiring downturn.
[peoplemanagement.co.uk, 18 August 2025]

job hugging noun [U]
UK /ˈdʒɒb ˌhʌgɪŋ/ US /ˈdʒɑːb ˌhʌgɪŋ/
the fact of staying in a job because it provides security, even if you don’t enjoy it and it no longer feels rewarding

A cute new term for a morbid reality has cropped up online, describing workers who cling to their jobs out of fear about reentering the dismal job market: “Job hugging.” In many ways, the “job hugging” trend is a reversal of the so-called “great resignation” of the pandemic era, when workers felt safe walking away from positions they didn’t want, confident they’d find work elsewhere.
[independent.co.uk, 4 November 2025]

See also the Great Resignation

hybrid creep noun [U]
/ˈhaɪ.brɪd ˌkriːp/
the gradual increase in days employees are expected to come into the office, even though the company officially has a hybrid working policy

There has also been a recent increase in employers gradually pushing to bring employees into the office more frequently, often without a formal announcement, known as “hybrid creep”. According to career expert Peter Duris, it’s becoming more commonplace. “However, some employers may want to see more faces in the office, but do this without formally updating any policies.”
[stylist.co.uk, 30 October 2025]

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All hands on deck! (Nautical Idioms, Part 2)

On December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, the English language2 Comments

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by Kate Woodford

Today’s post is the second of a pair focusing on nautical idioms, that is, idioms relating to sailing and the ocean. Part 1 covered idioms with the words ‘boat’, ’ship’ or ‘water’. Today, I’m looking at idioms containing a range of other nautical words. Where an item of vocabulary or the nautical origin of a phrase is not clear, I have given a brief explanation. Continue reading “All hands on deck! (Nautical Idioms, Part 2)” →

New words – 15 December 2025

On December 15, 2025 By Cambridge WordsIn New words1 Comment

blue sky in my pocket / Photodisc / Getty

Rad noun [C]
/ræd/
abbreviation for “rich autumn dad”: a man who dresses in the style of wealthy country gentlemen, for example wearing tweed and corduroy clothes, even if he is young and has no children

The leader of this new style pack, known among fashion watchers as the Rads, is David Beckham. The former England football captain appears in Country Life in a variety of looks including a tweed blazer and corduroy trousers. British country attire is now being embraced by men of all ages who want to emulate old money style. They may not be rich. They may not be a dad. But they can still look like a Rad.
[theguardian.com, 24 October 2025]

Gen Z stare noun [C]
UK /ˌdʒen zed ˈsteə/ US /ˌdʒen ziː ˈsteər/
a facial expression, used of young people, where the face appears blank and emotionless, generally to signal indifference or boredom

The Gen Z generation is getting a lot of press lately, sending shock waves through the work world with something called the “Gen Z stare.” It’s described as a long, blank and expressionless stare in a variety of social situations. Although many critics reduce the look to a silly, disengaged expression, experts argue that … the ‘Gen Z stare’ is more than just a viral buzzword; it is not a new problem, but it is a pervasive one, highlighting a larger issue in today’s workplace: a growing generational disconnect in employee communication and expectations.
[forbes.com, 21 July 2025]

hub-son noun [C]
/ˈhʌb.sʌn/
an adult male who continues to live with his parents, contributes little or nothing financially, but does housework and other household chores

Basically, a hub-son (a play on husband/son, obviously) is a son who lives at home with his mom/parents, holding no job other than performing traditional household tasks. Think of them like a stay-at-home tradwife, but … just an unmarried son who doesn’t want to move out of mommy’s house. But hey, in this economy, can we blame ’em?
[vice.com, 8 October 2025]

About new words

The beginning of the end? Phrases with ‘end’ (2)

On December 10, 2025November 27, 2025 By Liz WalterIn Idioms, the English language10 Comments

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by Liz Walter

My last post looked at phrases containing the word ‘end’ in the sense of the part that is furthest from the centre of something. Today’s post looks at phrases containing the word ‘end’ in its other main sense: the final part of something such as an activity or a period of time.

If something is at an end, it is finished and if it comes to an end, it finishes. On the other hand, if there is no end to something, it will never finish:

Eventually the rescuers arrived and her ordeal was at an end.

That period of my life was about to come to an end.

There seems to be no end to the conflict.

In the end, means finally, for instance at the end of a series of events or after a long discussion. We sometimes describe the point where something starts to get worse until it finishes or fails completely as the beginning of the end:

I made several attempts to call her, but in the end I went to her house.

It was the beginning of the end for our band when the drummer left.

If you do something to/until the bitter end, you continue until it is finished or completed, usually facing great problems or knowing that the result will be bad:

Their opponents had by far the better team, but they fought to the bitter end.

If you say that something is not the end of the world, you mean that it isn’t the worst thing that could happen. We sometimes use this phrase to imply that someone is making too much fuss about something. If someone comes to/meets a sticky end, they die in an unpleasant way. This phrase is slightly humorous, and shouldn’t be used in serious situations:

I know you’re upset about missing the show, but it’s not the end of the world.

The character comes to a sticky end when his car blows up.

I’ll finish with a very common phrase. When people are discussing a situation, they often finish with the phrase at the end of the day, followed by what they consider to be the most important fact about it:

You can complain about the driving test as much as you like, but at the end of the day, if you want to drive, you have to do it.

As you can see from this and my previous post, there are an incredible number of English phrases with the word ‘end’. Is this the same in your language?

Rocking the boat (Nautical Idioms, Part 1)

On December 8, 2025December 8, 2025 By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary5 Comments

by Kate Woodford

As the UK is an island nation, it’s perhaps not surprising that there are a great many idioms in English that relate to the ocean and sailing. Some of these nautical idioms are not known or used by many people and others contain obscure items of vocabulary. However, a surprising number are fairly common in contemporary English. This post (and my next one) will cover the most frequent of these idioms. Continue reading “Rocking the boat (Nautical Idioms, Part 1)” →

New words – 8 December 2025

On December 8, 2025November 27, 2025 By Cambridge WordsIn New words1 Comment

vibe working noun [U]
UK /ˈvaɪb ˌwɜː.kɪŋ/ US /ˈvaɪb ˌwɝː.kɪŋ/
a way of completing work tasks, such as creating documents or spreadsheets, by prompting an artificial intelligence tool with a general idea of what you want rather than giving it detailed instructions

Microsoft describes “vibe working” as collaboration between people and AI agents inside its productivity apps. Instead of giving a one-time response, the updated Copilot AI tools generate, test, and refine content while users steer the direction, more like a dialogue.
[geekwire.com, 29 September 2025]

boomerslop noun [U]
UK /ˈbuː.mə.slɒp/ US /ˈbuː.mɚ.slɑːp/
low-quality internet content that has been created by artificial intelligence and that is designed to appeal to people from the baby boomer generation

First, let me explain boomerslop: It’s AI slop that’s particularly appealing to a Facebook-loving boomer. I say this with love and affection for baby boomers. Time comes for us all, and every generation gets roasted for its digital foibles. Boomerslop isn’t even necessarily made by boomers. (Meta told me that boomers aren’t the majority of Meta AI users.) But, let’s say, this stuff is spiritually boomerish — it appeals to a boomer sensibility.
[businessinsider.com, 6 November 2025]

See also boomer, slop

clanker noun [C]
UK /ˈklæŋkəʳ/ US /ˈklæŋkɚ/
a derogatory way of referring to a robot, chatbot or anything else that uses artificial intelligence

Clanker has become a go-to slur against A.I. on social media, led by Gen Z and Gen Alpha posters. In recent months, posts about clankers have amassed hundreds of millions of views on TikTok and Instagram and started thousands of conversations on X.
[nytimes.com, 31 August 2025]

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New words – 1 December 2025

On December 1, 2025December 1, 2025 By Cambridge WordsIn New words7 Comments

throning noun [U]
UK /ˈθrəʊnɪŋ/ US /ˈθroʊnɪŋ/
dating someone because they increase your social status and reputation

“Throning is when someone positions their partner as a status symbol,” Chan says. “It’s about dating someone specifically because they elevate your image. The name comes from the idea of putting someone ‘on a throne’ to boost your own clout/social capital.”
[usatoday.com, 21 October 2025]

swag gap noun [C]
/ˈswæg ˌgæp/
a situation in which one partner in a relationship is widely seen as much more stylish, confident, or successful than the other

We’ve all seen them. Couples strolling down the street, totally loved up but worlds apart in style. One might be effortlessly chic, while the other looks… less so. Now, the internet has a name for it: enter the “swag gap”, a new term used to define couples with obvious style differences (as well as disparities in confidence or just all-round vibe).
[graziadaily.co.uk, 28 October 2025]

shrekking noun [C]
/ˈʃrekɪŋ/
dating someone you think is less physically attractive than you, in the belief that they will treat you better and be a more appreciative and loyal partner

Now another new and potentially toxic trend has arrived — shrekking. For lack of better words, the idea is that you date a conventionally unattractive suitor vis-a-vis Disney’s Shrek and keep your fingers crossed that their amiable character eventually makes you fancy them … Many have branded shrekking as one of social media’s nastiest trends. Experts have said the trend is inherently unfair to the partner that you see as being less attractive.
[standard.co.uk, 2 November 2025]

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