Story highlights Dictionary says additions were driven by US and UK politics

Post-truth points to a "distrust of facts"

"Alt-right" and "adulting" made the shortlist

(CNN) The Oxford English Dictionary has named "post-truth" the international word of the year after its usage spiked around the Brexit vote and the US election.

"It's not surprising that our choice reflects a year dominated by highly-charged political and social discourse," Oxford Dictionaries President Casper Grathwohl said in a statement.

"Fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment, post-truth as a concept has been finding its linguistic footing for some time."

Post-truth is defined as an adjective "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief," according to the dictionary.

Every year, Oxford Dictionaries' lexicographers decide on a word that points to the year's biggest trends or changes in the English language.