'Maxxing' gets Dictionary.com's 2026 word-of-the-year nod

NBC Chicago's quick slang lesson asks whether the endlessly adaptable ending could stick around like "-gate."

Channel:

NBC Chicago Story of October 27, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 39,607 views a day, 13 times a normal first day on this channel (3,091).

'Maxxing' is the 2026 word of the year, says Dictionary.com

Looksmaxxing, proteinmaxxing, fibermaxxing: the examples keep changing, but the ending does the same job. In NBC Chicago's brief report on Dictionary.com's word of the year, the presenter defines "maxxing" as "Taking anything to the absolute maximum."

The vocabulary lesson drew about 17,000 views in seven hours, already well beyond the few thousand a typical NBC Chicago Short receives on its first day.

Rather than simply announcing the selection, the presenter considers what gives a buzzword staying power. He revisits "67" and "demure," then offers a generational disclaimer: "I'm a millennial, so ask a Gen Z or Gen Alpha in your life."

His useful comparison is "-gate," the ending attached to everything from Watergate to Deflategate. Could "-maxxing" become another reusable piece of language rather than a passing expression?

That question also turns up in the comments. One viewer connects it to the much older expression "maxing out"; another applies the new ending to doomscrolling. NBC Chicago's slang lesson ends with an invitation to nominate a personal word of the year, with Merriam-Webster's and Oxford's selections still to come, according to the presenter.

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What viewers say

It may well stay around since we've been saying "maxxing out" for eons now.
@ediesvideos3095See it on YouTube
doom scroll maxing
@wozcraftingSee it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube