Surreal. It was Merriam-Webster’s “word of the year.”
What does it mean? You may have some idea through usage, but Merriam-Webster defines surreal as “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream.”
“We also give as its synonyms unbelievable and fantastic. It’s a relatively new word in English, and derives from surrealism, the artistic movement of the early 1900s that attempted to depict the unconscious mind in dreamlike ways as “above” or “beyond” reality,” M-W editor Peter Sokolowski reports. “Surreal itself dates to the 1930s, and was first defined in a Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1967.
Visitors to online dictionary looked up the word “surreal” in 2016 more than any other word.
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“Surreal had three major spikes in interest that were higher in volume and were sustained for longer periods of time than in past years. In March, the word was used in coverage of the Brussels terror attacks,” writes Sokolowski. “Then, in July, we saw the word spike again: it was used in descriptions of the coup attempt in Turkey and in coverage of the terrorist attack in Nice. Finally, we saw the largest spike in lookups for surreal following the U.S. election in November.”
According to Sokolowski, surreal is often looked up spontaneously in moments of both tragedy and surprise, whether or not it is used in speech or writing.
“This is not surprising: we often search for just the right word to help us bring order to abstract thoughts, emotions, or reactions,” he says. “Surreal seems to be, for 2016, such a word.”
Prophetically speaking, 2016 was surreal. It was a year of shifting seasons and suddenlies. It was a year of deadly deceptions emerging in the prophetic movement, it was a year of undercover Jezebel attacks, false prophetic voices rising and more. But it was also a year when God started igniting the prophets and increase in angelic activity.
I believe we’re going to see more surreal activity in 2016. The Lord has released the angels of abundant harvest. Find out more about this at angelsprophecy.com.
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Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.
