"Fascism" ranked 3rd in U.S. for word definition searches in 2026. Illinoisans searched for something else.

Americans searched Google in record numbers this year for the definition of "fascism," which ranked third nationally among the most-searched word definitions in 2026 — while Illinoisans were most preoccupied with a different term: "bias."

"Bias" was the top-searched definition in Illinois from Jan. 1 to July 7, according to an analysis by Unscramblerer.com, a word-unscrambling website that tracked "definition" searches using Google Trends and Ahrefs data. Illinois shared that distinction with only two other states, Connecticut and Vermont.

Nationally, "gaslighting" topped the list with nearly 287,000 monthly searches, followed by "love." "Fascism" came in third with about 264,700 monthly searches, narrowly ahead of "integrity" and "metaphor," which rounded out the top five.

Among Illinois' neighbors, Indiana favored "gaslighting" and Wisconsin favored "metaphor," while Alaska and Oregon joined the national trend by ranking "fascism" first. Iowa searched for "sociology," and Michigan sought "evidence."

A spokesperson for Unscramblerer.com said the company used Google Trends to spot popular definition searches, then measured volume with Ahrefs across roughly 130 phrasings, such as "define love."