New words – 22 August 2016

Plume Creative/DigitalVision/Getty Images Plus
Plume Creative/DigitalVision/Getty Images Plus

ringxiety noun the phenomenon of seeming to hear or sense a non-existent message or call on your phone

Do YOU have ‘ringxiety’? Being insecure about relationships leads people to hear ‘phantom calls’, researchers say

[www.dailymail.co.uk 05 February 2016]

If you find yourself reaching to answer your phone only to find that it had never rang [sic] you could be suffering from ‘ringxiety’,
according to academics.

[www.telegraph.co.uk 04 February 2016]

peak stuff noun the point at which consumers in developed countries cease to desire or require so many new acquisitions

If having more no longer satisfies us, perhaps we’ve reached ‘peak stuff’

[http://www.theguardian.com 31 January 2016]

Ikea senses room to grow amid ‘peak stuff’

[http://www.ft.com (article title) 18 January 2016]

postmateriality noun in the digital age, after materials such as film and tape stopped being used to record sound and images

We have a generation now that’s kind of coming to age postmateriality.

[NPR: All Things Considered (US news and information) 15 February 2016]

About new words

19 thoughts on “New words – 22 August 2016

  1. Pingback: (EN) – New words: 22 August 2016 | cambridge.org – Glossarissimo!

  2. Pingback: New Words – Cambridge Dictionary About words blog (Aug 22, 2016) | Editorial Words

  3. Banimibo-ofori Jack

    I have had series of ringxieties in my life, and I used to think they were only happening to me. Thanks Cambridge!

  4. Sam

    Agree with Carolanne Reylonds about that glaring error in ‘… it had never rang…’ Should have been noted by Cambridge? There’s little point in being a website resource where people come for help with English if you fail to point out when someone gets language wrong. Such errors going unmentioned can confuse the learner.

    1. Hello, thank you for pointing this out. You’re quite right, of course, that ‘rang’ is not the past participle, but this is how it originally appeared in The Telegraph. I’ve added [sic] to the citation to reflect this.

      1. Sam

        Sorry you were not mentioned, Carolanne. And my apologies for the typo on your surname. I have a bad habit of not re-reading my typing before hitting the ‘post’ or ‘send’ button.

      2. Now you have me completely confused.
        1. I wrote about the mistake in grammar (verb).
        2. “Sam” replied in agreement and misspelled my name.
        3. Cambridge Words thanked “Sam” for pointing it out.
        4. I then wondered since I pointed it out, why Sam wd be thanked by CWords.
        5. Then, strangely, “Sam”, not CWords, replied saying sorry I was not mentioned, then apologizing for misspelling my name.
        Also, when I clicked on ‘reply’ to CWords, it kept saying to “Sam” as you say above.
        Are Sam and CWords the same person?

      3. Sam

        Hi Carolanne,

        No, I’m definitely not Cambridge Words! I have no idea why you’re seeing what you are. Some kink in the site maybe?

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