How Cutesy! Dictionary.com Named “Demure” Its Word Of The Year

When summer ended, everyone packed up their brat summer (or hot girl summer, if you prefer) ways and got ready for the next season — and no, I don’t mean fall, I mean the next TikTok trend that dictated how we were supposed to act. And I don’t mean this in a negative way — ever since I’ve become an adult I have just been begging someone to tell me exactly what to do with my life, so thank you TikTok trends. Anyway, instead of a hot girl fall, we were given a new agenda going forward: we were going to be “demure.”

At the time we were all thinking: Is this another ploy from the trad wifers to regress women back into the 1950s? Is Nara Smith doing a press run? But being “demure” had nothing to do with that. I mean, if we’re getting technical, “demure” means modest, reserved, and shy, and while there’s nothing wrong with having those personality traits on your own, I can see why someone would be suspicious of any trends that tries to push that on people — especially women.

But unlike a lot of trends, being “demure” didn’t just disappear into the oblivion. In fact, Dictionary.com just named “demure” its “word of the year.” So even though you might have been a “brat” all summer, it looks like 2024 will forever live on as the year we were all “very cutesy, very demure.”

Soo, I hate to be the person that makes a trend uncool by breaking down exactly what it is, but you’re reading this article for a reason so let’s get into it.

What Is The “Demure” TikTok Trend?

In early August 2024, TikTok creator Jules Lebron (@joolieannie) made a video called “how to be demure at work” where she talks about how she goes to work, being “very demure, very mindful.” She has a full winged-liner look and a lot of blush, so it makes you laugh because you’re not really sure what about the look says demure. But immediately, the trend caught on. Since then, Jules has made 30+ videos where she describes her look or something she’s doing and explains things like “how to apply deodorant in a demure way” or “how to be demure in Vegas.” You never really get what aspect of the activity is “demure” exactly, but it’s just fun to say. Oh, and she throws in a “very cutesy” at the end of each video to really drive the point home. If you still don’t get it, it’s just very absurdist humor which makes it the best kind of humor.

Since Jules’ first video, there have been almost 900K videos made using the tag “#demure.” When the trend first dropped, people were posting their meals, talking about their nights out, and even “finishing emails” all in a “very demure, very mindful” way. Is there anything really “demure” about someone eating a caesar salad or getting a waking up without a hangover? No. But is it still really fucking funny? Absolutely.

So unlike Charlie XCX who had a pretty specific definition of what a “brat” is, Jules was basically saying, “be demure, be mindful” but not giving you any sort of real idea of what that means. A demure queen.