Last updated on August 27th, 2023

What do the new dictionary words tell us about our world and who we currently are within it? Every year the English language dictionaries (Collins, Oxford, Cambridge, and Merriam-Webster) add thousands of words to their relevant dictionaries. They do not create or endorse these words but rather immortalize them after they have already entered the general lexicon and zeitgeist.

Many of the new travel words that the Cambridge English Dictionary added in 2022 are indicative of the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Words and phrases like “gratification travel“, “hometel”, and “trip stacking” signal pent-up wanderlust, social distancing, and frustrations regarding ever-changing travel regulations. Many of the new entries about work highlight the rapid growth of remote work and the growing pains related to that: “ghost colleague”, “tattleware” and “WFC” (“Work From Café”).

Scroll down to see all Cambridge English Dictionary’s new words and phrases relating to work and travel in 2022.

Cambridge Dictionary New Words: Travel 

Eco-city
A city that has been designed to minimize the impact it has on climate change and the environment.

Edu-vacation
A holiday that includes some educational activities, such as classes, cultural tours, etc.

Flying ferry
A large boat that can travel quickly above the surface of the water, used for taking passengers and often vehicles from one place to another.

Ghost flight
A commercial plane that flies to its destination with very few or no passengers, because of a law that means the airline will otherwise lose the right to land at and take off from that airport.

Gratification travel

Going on long, expensive holidays, usually to faraway destinations.

GOAT
Abbreviation for Greatest Of All Trips: used to refer to or describe the best, most expensive, most adventurous, etc. holiday that someone has ever taken.

HOGO
Abbreviation for “hassle of going out”: a feeling that leaving the house in order to socialize is too difficult or not worth the trouble

Hometel
A hotel that is designed to make guests feel as though they are living in a comfortable home.

Hoverbike
A vehicle that travels in the air and looks like a motorbike.

Liveaboard
Someone who lives permanently on a boat.

Micromobility
The use of small electric vehicles such as e-scooters, normally used for traveling short distances within towns and cities.

Nature prescription
An instruction from a doctor to a patient to engage with nature and spend time outdoors as a way of helping to treat physical and mental illnesses without the use of medication.

Place lag
A feeling of surprise and slight confusion that people experience after making a long journey by plane and arriving in a place that is strange and new.

Regenerative Tourism
the activity of going on holiday to a particular destination and making a positive impact on the place and the people who live there.

Thermal tourism
travel to a warmer country to spend the winter months there in order to avoid the cold weather and higher heating bills in your own country.

Trip stacking
the activity of booking more than one holiday for the same time period in case one has to be canceled, for example, because of new travel restrictions.

Cambridge Dictionary New Words: Work and Antiwork

Anti-ambition
The lack of any strong wish to achieve something.

Anti-procrastination café
A café where people who have an urgent deadline can work, with employees checking regularly that they are working and not allowing them to leave until they have finished.

Carbon insetting
The activity of making changes within a company to reduce the damage its activities cause to the environment.

Chief heat officer
Someone who has overall responsibility for dealing with the rising temperatures in a city caused by climate change.

Clean inboxer
Someone who reads and takes action on every email they receive when they receive it so that there are never any unread emails in their inbox.

Desk-bombing
The activity of suddenly going to talk to someone who is working at their desk, rather than phoning them or sending them an email, seen by some people as impolite.

Digital amnesia
A condition where people become less able to remember things because they are used to looking everything up on the internet.

Director of first impressions
Someone who works in an office or hotel and whose job is to welcome and help visitors.

Disco nanny
Someone whose job is to look after a family’s children overnight during a holiday, while the parents go out to parties and nightclubs.

Ghost colleague
An employee of a company who works alone, often at home, and is not in frequent contact with other people who work for the same company.

Graternity leave
A period in which someone is granted paid time off work in order to look after their newborn grandchild.

Jobfishing
The illegal practice of recruiting people to work for a company that does not exist in order to trick them into sending their personal information and working without being paid.

Luxury detective
Someone whose job is to find rare and very expensive handbags, watches, jewelry, etc. for other people to buy.

Milestone anxiety
A condition in which someone feels frightened or very worried because they have not achieved the same things in life as other people of the same age.

Momtern
A woman who does work experience in a company with the aim of returning to paid employment after a period of staying at home with her children.

Nap box
A type of narrow cupboard designed for someone to stand in while they have a short nap, the inside having special shelves to support the person’s head and body.

New collar worker
A new collar worker does a well-paid and challenging job that does not need a university degree.

Office housework
Small tasks someone does at work that are related to the smooth running of the company rather than being part of the job they are paid to do.

Posture pandemic
The situation where a very large number of people have pain in the shoulders or back, thought to be caused by working at a computer or bending down to look at the screen of a phone or tablet.

Quantum apocalypse
The situation where extremely powerful computers can access all encrypted data very quickly and easily, making all hidden information public

Queenager
A woman of middle age or older who leads a busy life, dresses stylishly and enjoys having fun.

Quiet hiring
The activity of employing someone who already works in the company in a different role, often someone who is already doing many of the tasks that the new position demands.

Quiet quitting
The activity of doing the minimum amount of work needed to keep one’s job but with no enthusiasm or commitment.

Silver exodus
A trend in the employment market beginning in 2021 that has seen a much larger number of older people than usual stop working.

Silvfluencer
A middle-aged or elderly person who encourages people to buy items such as clothing and make-up by recommending them on social media, and is paid by companies to do so.

Sleepless elite
The small percentage of people who need very little sleep

Splinternet
The idea that there is, or could be, different versions of the internet rather than one global version, usually because the governments of some countries have blocked or restricted parts of its content.

Stealth help
A type of book that uses a story or an account of someone’s experience to inspire its readers to achieve goals and overcome problems.

Stresslaxation
A feeling of stress that you experience when you try to relax.

Sunday scaries
A feeling of stress or anxiety experienced by someone on a Sunday before they have to go back to work the next day after the weekend.

Tang ping
A Chinese term meaning “lie flat” that describes a trend where people reject the pressure to work long hours in a stressful job, and instead adopt a more relaxed lifestyle

Tattleware
Software that allows an employer to monitor the activity of someone who is working from home, in particular, to make sure the employee is working when they are supposed to be.

Time millionaire
Someone who places more importance on the amount of free time they have than on how much money they earn.

Unretirement
The act of going back to work after you have retired.

WFC
Abbreviation for “working from cafés”: the activity of working remotely from a café rather than traveling to an office or working from home.