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Pop Culture dictionary results for clickbait.

clickbait

American  

[klik-beyt] / ˈklɪkˌbeɪt /

noun

clickbaits plural

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.

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adjective

1. noting or relating to such internet content.

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

Usage

What does clickbait mean? Clickbait describes misleading internet content or shocking headline titles that aim to drive traffic to a website.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• clickbaits
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clickbait

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clickbait

Then there’s the real world—the one where readers and viewers lap up celebrity updates, clickbait headlines, and bleed-and-lead news segments.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

All of this that we’re living through and that our neighbors feel is so much bigger than whatever clickbait outrage is driving the cable news cycle today and will be forgotten by Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

“What happened to him was unjust. These trolls came to our city and disrupted our way of life and they attacked him for clickbait purposes,” said Hang, who personally called Hochman about the case.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

Speaking to Sky Sports' Gary Neville, the defender warned opinions sometimes strayed into "clickbait, saying things to provoke things, and without thinking about the repercussions for the mental side of players".

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

As a Netflix true crime film, “The Perfect Neighbor” is getting the same kind of clickbait headline treatment that a more salacious, less impactful documentary on the streamer would.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2025