S Poddar
The word “manifest,” traditionally defined as bringing something into existence through a form of intent or visualisation, has spread globally and won Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2024. It reflects an upsurge in the term’s usage, spurred largely by celebrity endorsements and a general social media hype.
Though “manifest” has a long history in English, back to at least the 1300s as an adjective meaning “clear” or “obvious,” its contemporary use as a verb represents a sense of transformation. This newer denotation places heavy importance on the idea that concentrated visualization and positive thought can bring dreams to fruition.
Pop star Dua Lipa, who headlined Glastonbury this summer, has publicly credited her career success to manifesting. She said, “Manifesting is a huge thing for me. I stand very strongly on the beliefs of putting things into the world. Subconsciously, you just work towards them. Nothing’s ever too big.” And then there’s Simone Biles who cites visualization and manifesting as the key to success in gymnastics, saying it helped shape her aspirations since a young age. The popularity of “manifest” is apparent with over 130,000 lookups on the Cambridge Dictionary website so far this year. According to dictionary publishing manager Wendalyn Nichols, a word’s use can change as its meaning changes. “Its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events in 2024, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time,” she said.
The origins of “manifest” trace back to French and Latin, where the word first appeared in English texts in the late 14th century.
Geoffrey Chaucer used it in its adjectival sense, meaning “clear or obvious.” By the time of Shakespeare, the word had grown versatile, serving as both a noun and a verb. For example, in King Lear, the Duke of Albany applies Edmund’s label to him when he condemns him for his “heinous, manifest, and many treasons,” and, in Twelfth Night, Malvolio exclaims, “And in this she manifests herself to my love,” identifying Olivia’s actions as proofs of affection. From its origins in literature, “manifest” was traditionally a noun, referring to the cargo list of a ship, a sense which goes back to 1561. But it was with “manifest destiny,” an idea championed by US President Andrew Jackson in the 1830s as a way to justify westward expansion across the continent, that the phrase gained prominence. But the idea of manifestation as “speaking dreams into existence” really came more recently, first attested in the early 20th century in association with Spiritualism. It is an interpretation that had taken off in the digital age, being otherwise heightened by platforms such as TikTok, which has caused trends such as the 3-6-9 way of manifestation—making wishes three times in the morning, six times in the afternoon, and nine times at night—to gain billions of views.
This practice, according to Professor Sander van der Linden, a social psychology expert at Cambridge University, manifested itself through social media, as well as the unique psychological climate of a pandemic. “But while the idea of manifesting has appeal and is intuitively appealing,” he said, “it has no scientific basis. Manifesting, in short, is what psychologists call ‘magical thinking’ or the general illusion that specific mental rituals can change the world around us.”.
While there is indeed some evidence to justify the effectiveness of positive thinking, self-affirmation, and goal-setting, van der Linden cautioned against lumping these under manifesting. “The former is healthy, whereas the latter is pseudoscience,” he said. Still, the phenomenon continues to gain ground, not only because of its celebrity proponents but also because of its promise of empowerment in uncertain times.
The rise of “manifest” as a cultural phenomenon highlights how language evolves to reflect societal shifts. Its journey from an ancient adjective to a contemporary verb underscores humanity’s enduring fascination with the power of belief and the pursuit of possibility.
