It feels good to use words with precision. But sometimes you need to be even more precise than what a single word can convey.
And that’s where the hyphenated word enters the fray!
If you’re like me and enjoy learning about the extremities in just about every aspect of life, especially when it comes to language (don’t forget to check out our list of the most common AI words) then you’re in the right place.
Let’s find out what the most popular hyphenated words are in online writing.
Generative AI has changed things
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years, you will be fully aware of the impact chatbots like ChatGPT have had on content that gets published online.
The web is being spammed with AI-generated articles as we speak, and with that a new group of double barrel words has become the most-used. This is because AI has its own quirks and preferences in how it forms sentences.
So, this list of the most used hyphenated words is being driven by the AI takeover of online texts. It’s worth committing them to memory so that you can easily spot content that was generated by AI!
Top 7 hyphenated words
We’ve discovered that AI loves to use double barrel words to set the scene before getting into the ‘meat’ of the discussion. Indeed, that’s what threads together all the words listed below.
1. Ever-changing
This is a hugely common compound adjective in texts generated by AI. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t read the phrase “in the ever-changing world of” – it happens to be one of ChatGPT’s favorites.
2. Ever-evolving
Knowing that ‘evolve’ is a common standalone word in generative AI, it’s no surprise that ‘ever-evolving’ has made it onto this list too. It’s a great combo to use when you want the reader to get excited about the idea of continuous transformation.
3. Hyper-connected
Another common hyphenated word that pairs well with nouns like ‘realm’ and ‘world’—’hyper-connected’ serves to intensify the notion of being connected, which is a relevant description in discussions about technology, business, sociology, and more.
4. Ever-expanding
As readers, we get hooked in by language that describes the unlimited nature of something—something that is constantly growing or extending. And that’s exactly why ‘ever-expanding’ has such high usage within tools like ChatGPT.
5. Fast-paced
Just like how humans are fascinated by the biggest X and the strongest Y, everyone wants to know what the fastest Z is. In fact, we’re so obsessed with speed that we often use it to describe the pace of life in general, hence why ‘fast-paced’ is a super common hyphenated word.
6. Ever-competitive
No one can argue that many fields are competitive. I don’t think anyone would dispute the persistent and increasing nature of competition in certain fields, either. Thus, ‘ever-competitive’ has become ubiquitous in texts generated by AI.
7. Digitally-driven
The world is digital, so when you talk about the digital world, you’re really talking about the entire world albeit with more technical language. And that’s why you often see the phrase ‘digitally-driven world’ in the introduction of articles: it’s to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.