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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

clickbait en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈklɪkbeɪt/ (UK)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English click Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *baitijaną Old Norse beitabor. Middle English bayte English bait English -bait English clickbait From click + -bait (“manipulation to elicit a particular response”).

Meanings

  1. (Internet, countable, derogatory, uncountable) Website content that is aimed at generating advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs; such headlines.
    • In August 2016, leaders at Facebook announced a plan to identify and limit clickbait, because the Facebook newsfeed goal is to “show people the stories most relevant to them.” 2017, Ted Kwartler, Text Mining in Practice with R, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
    • What is less clear is whether Maga’s identity crisis reflects a schism among the movement’s rank and file, with the potential for an anti-Trump revolt, or merely the incentives of clickbait-driven social media. 2026 March 22, David Smith, “‘Extremely ugly’: Maga media figures squabble among themselves over Trump’s Iran war”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
    • Fairfax's sites are renowned for what is sometimes called ‘clickbait’: headlines written to beguile passing eyeballs but which obscure nondescript or irrelevant stories. 2012, Gideon Haigh, The Deserted Newsroom, Penguin, →ISBN:
    • In comparison with algorithms used in the past, this SI based technique provided a better accuracy and a human interpretable set of rules to classify clickbaits 2019, Deepanshu Pandey, Garimendra Verma, Sushama Nagpal, “Clickbait Detection Using Swarm Intelligence”, in Advances in Signal Processing and Intelligent Recognition Systems:
    • "His careful lawyerly writing would be out of fashion now", wrote one commenter after Kettle's piece. "It wasn't clickbait". 2013 September 29, Peter Preston, The Observer:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
click bait alternative lexicographic
click-bait alternative lexicographic
clickbaits Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

streambait

Deriveds

clickbaity · clickbaiter

Synonyms

link bait · shitbait

Translations (30)

tr tıklama tuzağı (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · pl clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · eo klaklogaĵo (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · nl clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · af klikaas (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · es pescaclics (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · es ciberañagaza (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · pt caça-clique (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ja クリックベイト (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · de Klickköder (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ko 클릭 미끼 (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ca pescaclics (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ga cluain chliceála (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · fr piège à clics (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · da klikmadding (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · es añagaza de/para clics (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · sh navlakuša (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · fi klikkiotsikko (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · da clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ko 클릭베이트 (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ru кликбейт (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · cmn 標題黨 /标题党 (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · de Clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · he קליקבייט (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · tr clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · it acchiappaclic (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · hu kattintásvadász (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · fr putaclic (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · da kliklokkemad (content aimed at generating advertising revenue) · ca clickbait (content aimed at generating advertising revenue)

clickbait en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈklɪkbeɪt/ (UK)
  • (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English click Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰéydt Proto-Germanic *bītaną Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *baitijaną Old Norse beitabor. Middle English bayte English bait English -bait English clickbait From click + -bait (“manipulation to elicit a particular response”).

Meanings

  1. To add clickbait to a web page; to direct clickbait at someone.
    • I have never clickbaited anyone with overexaggerated titles, but also never downplayed the severity of the content within. 2017, Brian Whitney, Subversive: Interviews with Radicals, →ISBN:
    • Whether they're acts of clickbaiting or dumbness, internet headlines routinely mischaracterize quotes, inaccurately paraphrase statements, and misuse specific terms, all to make readers click. 2015, How to Write About Music, →ISBN, page 60:
    • But he'd clickbaited her. 2017, Ainslie Paton, The Love Experiment, →ISBN:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
click bait alternative lexicographic
clickbaits Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
clickbaited Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
clickbaited Tense=Past lexicographic
clickbaiting Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
click-bait alternative lexicographic

Relateds

chumbox · click-through