'Fake news' named word of the year

The expression "Fake News" has been named word of the year by Collins Dictionary, due to its "ubiquitous presence" in the past 12 months.

The dictionary defines the phrase as "false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting " and said its use has increased by 365% since 2016. It will appear in the next print editions of Collins Dictionary.

Helen Newstead, Collins' head of language content, said: "Much of this year's list is definitely politically charged, but with a new president in the US and a snap election in the UK it is perhaps no surprise that politics continues to electrify the language.

"'Fake news', either as a statement of fact or as an accusation, has been inescapable this year, contributing to the undermining of society's trust in news reporting: given the term's ubiquity and its regular usage by President Trump, it is clear that Collins' Word of the Year 'fake news' is very real news,"she continued.

"Fake News" has been often used by Donald Trump, who recently claimed he had coined the expression.

"The media is really, the word, one of the greatest of all terms I've come up with, is 'fake,'" Trump said earlier this year during an interview on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

"I guess other people have used it perhaps over the years but I've never noticed it. And it's a shame. And they really hurt the country. Because they take away the spirit of the country," said Trump.

Other words that will feature in the next Collins editions include "gender fluid", "fidget spinner" and "cuffing season", the latter described as the habit of single people to look for a partner during winter.