Entry · catalog no. 4117
demure
/ /dɪˈmjʊr/ /dih-MYOOR
adjective · nationwide · 2020s
✓ Verified
1.
Presented as modest, tasteful, and considerate — often said ironically about something ordinary. The running joke is calling small everyday choices 'very demure, very mindful.'
“Look how I keep my desk — very demure, very mindful.”
Origin & Attribution
The old word is centuries old; the 2024 sense is the invention of Jools Lebron, a Black trans creator, whose August 2, 2024 TikTok "how to be demure at work" turned "very demure, very mindful" into a national catchphrase. Her deadpan gentleness poked at influencer "clean girl" aesthetics and at womanhood itself. Dictionary.com named demure its 2024 word of the year — often without naming her.
2024
Jools Lebron posts 'how to be demure at work' (Aug 2)
2024
Brands and celebrities flood the trend
2024
Dictionary.com names 'demure' word of the year
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
nationwide · 2020s
Spoken by
Black trans creator, then broad internet
$DEMUREThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Cooling2 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
80/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
2024
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
CNN — "Very demure, very mindful: How TikTok's latest catchphrase came to be" — article · 2024
researched
■
+ Cite a sourceJools Lebron — "how to be demure at work" — TikTok · 2024
researched
See also