‘Gaslighting’ is used to describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships (Picture: AP/Getty)

Anyone who has watched Matt Hancock’s appearance on I’m a Celeb or Love is Blind, knows what ‘gaslighting’ is.

For those unfamiliar with the latest reality shows, it is loosely defined as a form of psychological abuse, in which a person makes someone question their memories, sanity or perception of reality.

Whether it is a politician trying to gaslight the nation, or a toxic partner, the term has been all over social media recently.

With that in mind, it is unsurprising Merriam-Webster has chosen it as its word of the year for 2022.

Searches for the word on the dictionary’s website rose by 1,740% in 2022 over the year before.

Unlike many others, there was not one single event that drove significant spikes in curiosity around the word.

Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large, Peter Sokolowski, said: ‘It is a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us.

This is how the term is defined on Merriam-Webster (Picture: AP)

‘It was a word looked up frequently every single day of the year.’

‘Gaslighting’ was brought to life more than 80 years ago with Gas Light, a 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton, which birthed two film adaptations in the 1940s.

One, George Cukor’s Gaslight in 1944, starred Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist and Charles Boyer as Gregory Anton.

The two marry after a whirlwind romance and Gregory turns out to be a champion ‘gaslighter’.

Among other instances, he insists her complaints over the constant dimming of their London townhouse’s gaslights is a figment of her troubled mind. 

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The term is now used by mental health practitioners to clinically describe a form of prolonged coercive control in abusive relationships.

‘There is this implication of an intentional deception,’ Mr Sokolowski said.

‘And once one is aware of that deception, it’s not just a straightforward lie, as in, you know, “I didn’t eat the cookies in the cookie jar”.

‘It’s something that has a little bit more devious quality to it. It has possibly an idea of strategy or a long-term plan.’

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Searches for the word on the dictionary’s website rose by 1,740% in 2022.