(CNN) Oxford Dictionaries has crowned "youthquake" as its word of 2017 in a nod to the unexpected level of youth engagement in this summer's election in the United Kingdom.

An amalgamation of "youth" and "earthquake", the noun is defined as "a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people."

The word was coined in the 1960s by then-Vogue editor, Diana Vreeland , to describe upheavals in fashion and music caused by Britain's youth culture.

Diana Vreeland was editor of Vogue US between 1963-1971 and coined the term 'youthquake'.

But an almost five-fold resurgence in usage of the word was seen between 2016 and 2017 in a different context -- as a result of surprisingly high youth participation in June's election.

Predictions of a big victory for Theresa May's Conservative Party before the election were based partly on assumptions that most young people wouldn't vote.

But high youth turnout in favor of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party helped the opposition party gain seats at the expense of the Conservatives, who lost their majority in Parliament.

Grime artist JME campaigned for Corbyn this summer.

The word "youthquake" was also used in New Zealand to describe increasing youth engagement in politics there, according to Oxford Dictionaries. The country's new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is the world's youngest female leader at 37.

Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries, described the term as a less obvious choice for Word of the Year in a statement, but asserted it to be the right one, calling it a "word on the move."

"At a time when our language is reflecting a deepening unrest and exhausted nerves, it is a rare political word that sounds a hopeful note. Hope that our polarized times are creating a more open-minded electorate that will exercise its voice in the times ahead," she wrote.

Angus Stevenson, Head of Content Development for Oxford Dictionaries, told CNN: "We also felt it struck a more positive note than some of the other words on the shortlist -- as Casper said, it's great to have a word we can rally behind."

Some people took to Twitter to express surprise over the choice.

'Youthquake' is the Oxford Dictionary word of the year. Kind of ironic, given that 2017 didn't belong to young people who care about the future. It was dominated by miserable old sods who want to plunge us back into their fantasy of what the past was like. — Michael Moran (@TheMichaelMoran) December 15, 2017

"Surely you've remembered the word 'youthquake'? It's such a common word" pic.twitter.com/Ci6y9qXzI0 — Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) December 15, 2017

Severe delays on the Central line due to a youthquake.



Severe delays on all other lines due to no one knowing what a youthquake is. — TLF Travel Alerts (@TlfTravelAlerts) December 15, 2017

Every year, the US and UK teams of Oxford Dictionaries choose a word or expression "to reflect the passing year in language."