“Surreal” has been named word of the year by Merriam-Webster. The word was apparently the most searched for on the dictionary publisher’s website, in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November.



It makes sense, given that Trump spent the election and its aftermath doing, saying and more often than not tweeting things that were untrue, offensive or bizarre. And still won.



In a tweet on Saturday, Trump combined two of those three qualities when he accused China of “stealing” a US navy drone – “ripping” it out of the water, no less – in what he said was an “unpresidented” act.

The president-elect corrected himself and deleted the offending tweet, confirming that he had meant to type “unprecedented” and leaving at least one key national security adviser professedly baffled by the whole thing.

The original term seems so appropriately descriptive of Trump’s behaviour, however, that it seems a shame to let it go to waste.



The Guardian is therefore nominating “unpresidented” as its own word of the year.

Here are some definitions.

unpresidented

An instance of someone being “prepared to say what most of us are thinking”, but actually saying things most of us are not thinking

When making remarks on Mexico (sending rapists to the US); on the Gold Star mother Ghazala Khan (maybe she wasn’t allowed to speak); and on women in general, Trump probably believed he was performing that cliched act of “saying things that most of us are thinking”.

Except, most of us are not thinking the things Trump is thinking. And if we are, it is only in the sense of: “Who in their right mind would think that?”

Usage: “Did you hear Donald Trump say China was raping our country? That was so unpresidented.”

unpresidented

An irrecoverable act of folly committed by a president

During his campaign, Trump said Russia was “not going into Ukraine”. Vladimir Putin had actually annexed Crimea. Trump also used a televised debate to defend the size of his penis. It seems very likely there will be more moments like these when Trump is actually commander-in-chief.

Usage: “One of Barack Obama’s most unpresidented moments was when he wore those mom jeans. One of Donald Trump’s most unpresidented moments was when he started that full-scale nuclear war.”

unpresidented

Feeling of loss when a president who has neither the temperament nor the knowledge to actually be president is elected president, causing one to wonder who will actually be running the country and triggering feelings of malaise and dread

See above for examples of Trump lacking both the temperament and knowledge to be president. See the recent Saturday Night Live sketch about who will be running the country. Look inside yourself for the feelings of malaise and dread.

Usage: The current situation.

unpresidented

The state of an impeached president.