trending

The word “trending” means currently very popular or attracting a lot of attention, especially on social media. In plain terms, being talked about or shared a lot right now, or moving in a certain direction.

Here is “trending” used in a sentence: “The video was trending on every platform by evening.”

Depending on how it is used, “trending” can be an adjective and a noun.

“Trending” is an uncommon word in modern English.

“Trending” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: currently very popular or attracting a lot of attention, especially on social media.

Trending describes something currently attracting a lot of attention, especially online, often because activity around it is increasing rapidly, while popular simply means well-liked or widely favoured, regardless of how recent the interest is. A topic can be popular for years without ever trending, while something can trend suddenly even if it isn't broadly popular yet.

Trending refers to a topic that is currently drawing significant attention and appearing frequently in feeds or search results, while viral describes content that has spread extremely fast and widely, usually through sharing. Content often needs to go viral in order to start trending, but not everything trending has gone through a viral spread.

Yes, trending can function as an adjective describing something popular right now, as in a trending topic, and it can also be used as a noun referring to a general movement or shift in a particular direction. Both uses are common in everyday and social media contexts.