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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

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

The template-driven format resembles the output of content mills that mass-produce made-up clickbait stories, said digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

On X, Kurt Caz dismissed criticism of the thumbnail as "clickbait" and said "if you're going to do a hit piece on me do it properly".

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026

“Spam, fluff, clickbait, churnalism, kitsch — slop: These are all ways to describe mass-produced, low-quality content.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2025

When a film so agonizing is immediately followed by empty, uninformative clickbait articles asking “where are they now” questions about still-grieving children, one has to wonder where the line is.

From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2025