clickbait

[ klik-beyt ]

noun

1. a sensationalized headline or piece of text on the internet designed to entice people to follow a link to an article on another web page.

adjective

1. noting or relating to such internet content:

   Clickbait articles contribute to the online visibility of the news website.

Word History and Origins

Origin of clickbait¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; click ¹ (in the computer sense) + bait

Example Sentences

Gerda’s career is an exemplar of what happens when news organizations invest in local journalism, let reporters dig instead of writing clickbait and stand by them in the face of critics real and imagined.

From Los Angeles Times

In his lawsuit, De León took a defiant stance, blasting media coverage of the scandal, which his lawyer described as “more concerned with clickbait than facts.”

From Los Angeles Times

The drink may be clickbait, but it also speaks to a growing lifestyle trend that espouses going back to basics.

From Los Angeles Times

In 2022, a year after castigating The Simpsons for using him as the basis for a character who had become a meat-eating, overweight xenophobe, Morrissey published an open letter to Marr, calling on him to stop using the singer's name as "clickbait" and stop blaming him for everything from a tsunami to "the dribble on your grandma's chin".

From BBC

A year later, he published an open letter to Marr, calling on him to stop using the singer's name as "clickbait".

From BBC