Figuratively speaking, New Jersey’s most-searched word is a metaphor
A new study listed the most-searched words in the nation.
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If New Jersey’s word search history told a story, it wouldn’t be a literal one.
In a state where people are known for being direct, a new study shows that Garden State residents search for “metaphor” more than any other word. According to Word Unscrambler, the analysis used Google Trends to determine what words states were looking up online.
While New Jerseyans are trying to brush up on their figures of speech, other states are trying to find the definitions for words such as equity, ursine, sepsis, Providence and gouache, among others. Nationwide, however, Americans in 2026 searched for the word “gaslighting” more than any other.
“One of the most striking findings is that Americans’ top searched definitions for 2026 are dominated by abstract concepts rather than objects,” a spokesperson for Word Unscrambler said in a statement. “From love and justice to democracy and integrity, people are searching for words that help them understand ideas, values and human behavior.”
The research for the study was conducted between Jan. 1 and July 7 of this year using search data from Google Trends in which people were looking for definitions.
