2018 has been a lot of things but one word seems to sum it up best: toxic.

At least that's according to Oxford Dictionaries' official word of the year selection. The British publisher said "toxic" beat out other expressions including "techlash" and "gaslighting" thanks to the "sheer scope of its application."

"In 2018, toxic added many strings to its poisoned bow becoming an intoxicating descriptor for the year's most talked about topics," Oxford Dictionaries said on its website late Wednesday.

The dictionary defines "toxic" as "poisonous" with its roots derived from the medieval Latin term "toxicus," meaning poisoned or imbued with poison. Data from Oxford Dictionaries show a 45 percent increase in the number of times people have looked up the word on its website.

"Our research shows that this year, more than ever, people have been using 'toxic' to describe a vast array of things, situations, concerns and events," a video released by Oxford Dictionaries on Twitter said.