‘Change’ is the Word of the Year for Brazilians, according to survey

Change is the word that best translates 2018 for 34% of Brazilians. It was chosen in the vote # PalavradoAno2018 (Wordoftheyear2018), an initiative held by Cause and Ideia Big Data.

The five finalists of this edition were Fear, Hope, Struggle, Change, and Chaos. “Change” represents well the feeling of the population with Brazil in 2018, according to political scientist Leandro Machado, a founding partner of CAUSE. “The word of the year 2018 translates well the spirit of our time,” says Machado. “Change is often a typical feeling of election years, and in 2018 it came with much more force. This is a remarkable year in which the electoral debate has exposed our greatest adversities.”

In fact, it is the third consecutive year that Word of the Year research is led by CAUSE, a consultancy that supports brands and organizations to identify and manage their causes. Since 2017, the initiative has partnered with Ideia Big Data, a research and data consulting company. “Word of the Year gives us insight into the general sentiment of public opinion,” says Big Data Idea president Maurício Moura.

In 2016, the one chosen was Indignation; in 2017, Corruption. The finalists of the 2018 edition surfaced after two surveys that more than 5000 responses. About 600 different words were mentioned.