Questão 3165430

“Rage bait” named word of the year by Oxford University Press

By Kevin Rawlinson

1. Good news for those who find their blood pressure rising as they scroll through their online
2. news feeds: the Oxford English Dictionary’s publisher has highlighted the term they might need
3. to describe how they often feel, naming “rage bait” as its word of the year.
4. ________ to the Oxford University Press’ analysis, use of the phrase has tripled in the past
5. 12 months. It defines it as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by
6. being frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or
7. engagement with a particular webpage or social media content”.
8. The president of Oxford Languages said its very existence showed how aware people were
9. becoming of the “manipulation tactics” used to grab their attention online. “Before, the internet
10. was focused .... grabbing our attention .... sparking curiosity .... exchange for clicks, but now
11. we’ve seen a dramatic shift to it hijacking and influencing our emotions, and how we respond.
12. It feels like the natural progression in an ongoing conversation .... what it means to be human
13. in a tech-driven world—and the extremes of online culture”.
14. He said that, where last year’s choice—“brain rot”—“captured the mental drain of endless
15. scrolling, ‘rage bait’ shines a light on the content ________ engineered to spark outrage and
16. drive clicks”.
17. The two together, Grathwohl said, “form a powerful cycle where outrage sparks
18. engagement, algorithms amplify it, and constant exposure leaves us mentally ________. These
19. words don’t just define trends; they reveal how digital platforms are reshaping our thinking and
20. behaviour.”
21. While the term is being recognised in 2025, the Oxford University Press said “rage bait”
22. had been around since just after the turn of the century. It was “first used online in a posting
23. on Usenet in 2002 as a way to designate a particular type of driver reaction to being flashed at
24. by another driver requesting to pass them, introducing the idea of deliberate agitation”.

(Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/01/rage-bait-named-word-of-the-year-by-oxford-university-press – text specially adapted for this test).

Analyze the following statements and mark T, if true, or F, if false, considering the context of occurrence in the text.

( ) The expression “shines a light on” (l. 15) means to clarify or draw attention to something.

( ) The word “traffic” (l. 06) refers to the flow of visitors or interactions on a website and may be considered a false cognate in Portuguese.

( ) The word “shift” (l. 11) could be replaced by “change” without altering meaning.

( ) The verb “spark” (l. 15) is used in its literal sense of producing a flame or ignition.

The correct order of filling in the parentheses, from top to bottom, is: