Merriam-Webster has named “slop” its 2025 Word of the Year, repurposing an old term for scraps and sludge into a modern label for mass-produced, low-quality digital content, often generated with AI. The word’s popularity tracks a growing public fatigue: feeds, search results, and even inboxes are increasingly padded with synthetic filler that looks convincing at first glance but delivers little value, originality, or accountability.