The Business Buzzword Tracker

Whether you love it or loathe it, you should understand business jargon.

The Business Buzzword Tracker

The business world has become overrun with buzzwords. Which means, of course, you should know what they mean — and whether or not you should use them — to navigate the business world. So we’ve started the Work + Money Business Buzzword Tracker, a living glossary that highlights commonly used words, offers some context and definitions, and reveals whether your most-hated jargon is trending up or on its way out.

We’re kicking this off with an initial 15 buzzwords, chosen from a Google search of “most hated buzzwords,” which, by the way, yielded 1,950,000 results. We’ll add more in the future because, love them or loathe them, the minting of business buzzwords never stops.

Buzzword No. 1

What it means in plain English: Employment in the short-term or done by freelancers.

Spotted in the wild: "For many, the gig economy is simply the next step in a losing effort to build some economic security in a world where all the benefits are floating to the top 10 percent." — Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Maybe. Although it’s used everywhere these days. The three-letter word “gig” often describes the length of a job perfectly — very short.

The Trend for "Gig Economy"

According to Google Trends, searches for “gig economy” started to spike in June 2015, and have been on the rise ever since.

Buzzword No. 2

Alternate versions: Agent of change

What it means in plain English: A person who helps an organization shift gears. Shouldn’t a business always be changing for the better?

Spotted in the wild: “Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.” — Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Yes, because this is a case of using fancy words when simple ones make more sense.

The Trend for “Change Agent”

According to Google Trends, searches for “change agent” have been relatively steady since 2009.

Buzzword No. 3

What it means in plain English: Whatever you do best, or better than your competition. That may include creative thinking, analytical thinking, leadership and flexibility.

Spotted in the wild: “Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competences.” — Mark Cuban of “Shark Tank”

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Maybe. Why not stick with “capabilities” instead of trying to confuse the listener?

The Trend for “Core Competencies”

According to Google Trends, searches for “core competencies” peaked in 2004, dropped in the years after, then picked up and remained relatively steady since 2009.

Buzzword No. 4

What it means in plain English: An in-depth look at a single topic or it may be used for problem solving or searching for ideas.

Spotted in the wild: “Let’s take a deep dive into B2B content marketing: what it is, how to develop a comprehensive strategy, and how to use LinkedIn for B2B marketing.” — Kylee Lessard, in a LinkedIn marketing article.

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Yes, because they’re afraid you’ll hit your head (again) when you dive deep into the swimming pool.

The Trend for “Deep Dive”

According to Google Trends, searches for “deep dive” had a strong run from 2004 to mid-2006, then started trending upwards again around 2010, Now, we’re back near its peak.

Buzzword No. 5

What it means in plain English: A mashup of the words “free” and “premium” defined as giving something at no cost and then charging for lots of add-ons. Well, this is widespread!

Spotted in the wild: “LinkedIn and Flickr, among other sites have already proven freemium can generate revenue in the social media context.” — Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Definitely. Even though, this word has made it into Webster’s, its usage has subsided.

The Trend for “Freemium”

According to Google Trends, searches for “freemium” spiked in Nov. 2014, and have since returned to the same level as they were circa 2000.

Buzzword No. 6

What it means in plain English: When more than one person come together to achieve something that a single person couldn’t accomplish on their own. I think that’s called teamwork.

Spotted in the wild: “Synergy is better than my way or your way. It’s our way.” — Stephen Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? No. The word itself has a soft, pleasant sound and hasn’t reached the saturation point yet.

The Trend for “Synergy”

According to Google Trends, searches for “synergy” were relatively steady until late in 2014, and have risen slightly since then.

Buzzword No. 7

What it means in plain English: The process of coming up with ideas.

Spotted in the wild: “Ideation without execution is delusion.” — Robin Sharma, author and leadership expert

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Absolutely. It’s like ideaphoria, ideathon and idea-geddon. Why use a long word, when a short one works?

The Trend for “Ideation”

According to Google Trends, searches for “ideation” were firm through 2010, when they started steadily rising. We haven’t heard the last of “ideation” yet.

Buzzword No. 8

What it means in plain English: Make a significant difference or shift the situation.

Spotted in the wild: “You must, as an entrepreneur, if that’s your position, be doing things to move the needle.” — Nick Woodman, GoPro CEO

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Yes. Needles are icky and used for injections so moving one sounds excruciatingly painful.

The Trend for “Move the Needle”

According to Google Trends, searches for “move the needle” spiked in August 2005, plateaued for a few years, then have slowly and steadily risen since around 2010.

Buzzword No. 9

What it means in plain English: Problems, pure and simple. Or maybe it’s the places on your body where the acupuncture needles were used.

Spotted in the wild: “We’ve found that the more products our customers have with us, the longer they stay. It’s about making sure we listen to our customer needs and get to those pain points.” — Tricia Griffith, CEO, President of Progressive Insurance

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Normal people, yes. Business executives, no. See “Move the needle.”

The Trend for “Pain Points”

According to Google Trends, searches for “pain points” have been on a steady rise since 2004.

Buzzword No. 10

What it means in plain English: Those things that are obvious and easy to attain. Not all low-hanging fruit is worth keeping. Some of it has rotted.

Spotted in the wild: “If only media people would stop reaching for the low-hanging fruit, which is cynicism and pessimism, and stop trying so hard to be hip and cool and have a swagger.” — Emilio Estevez, actor

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? No, they’ll just think you’re inviting them to a u-pick apple event.

The Trend for “Low-hanging Fruit”

Monitor for radical spikes. Possibly needs CPR. According to Google Trends, searches for “low-hanging fruit” have fluctuated wildly since 2005.

Buzzword No. 11

What it means in plain English: The central point on which something moves. Or a dance move. Isn’t all this business jargon just one big dance?

Spotted in the wild: “In many cases, companies use the crisis moments to pivot to do better. We like to be part of that.” — Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Maybe, but the word “adapt” makes more sense.

The Trend for “Pivot”

According to Google Trends, searches for “pivot” spiked in June 2007 and remained at that peak until a few years ago when they started climbing again, reaching a new peak in March 2019.

Buzzword No. 12

What it means in plain English: A short piece of text or video that can easily be digested, but you may need an antacid.

Spotted in the wild: “Video advertising all comes down to your audience — and younger audiences want shorter, snackable content to engage with multiple times per day, across multiple channels.” — Andy Halko, CEO of Insivia

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Yes. See “Low-hanging fruit.”

The Trend for “Snackable Content”

According to Google Trends, searches for “snackable content” spiked twice pre-2010 — then spiked frequently from 2012 to now.

Buzzword No. 13

What it means in plain English: The small enclosed parts of the bridge on a ship. Now slang for what’s aligned with someone’s competencies.

Spotted in the wild: “I don’t think my wheelhouse is comfortable in Wall Street. My wheelhouse is small-town America.” — Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of Jimmy John’s sandwich chain.

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? They should, but common use will probably prolong its death.

The Trend for “Wheelhouse”

About to go into cardiac arrest, I hope. But according to Google Trends, searches for “wheelhouse” were flat until 2011, then turned up and to the right. The trend shows no sign of fading.

Buzzword No. 14

What it means in plain English: To move swiftly and effortlessly.

Spotted in the wild: “For the VA to thrive as an integrated healthcare network, it must be agile and adaptive.” — Robert Wilkie, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Probably not, because it sounds fancy and elegant.

The Trend for “Agile”

According to Google Trends, searches for “agile” have had a slow, steady rise since 2004. If it fades, it will probably be replaced by “nimble.”

Buzzword No. 15

What it means in plain English: Used as jargon, bandwidth means capacity as in time or mental. Its original meaning was a range of frequencies within a band of wavelengths. You’ll often hear it used in connection with internet speeds.

Spotted in the wild: “The amount of trust and bandwidth that you build up working with someone for five, seven, 10 years? It’s just awesome. I care about openness and connectedness in a global sense.” — Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, Facebook

Will people roll their eyes when you use it? Maybe. They might misunderstand your intent.

The Trend for “Bandwidth”

According to Google Trends, searches for “bandwidth” are about to flatline.