In Memoriam: The Words AI Killed Through Overuse

We are gathered here today to pay our respects.

These words served the English language faithfully for centuries. They had good meanings, honest purposes, useful applications. And then, sometime around 2022, they were conscripted into service by large language models.

They never recovered.

What follows is a memorial to words and phrases that AI loved to death. May they one day return to us, restored to their former dignity.

DELVE

Born: 14th century, from Old English delfan (to dig) Died: 2023, from acute overexposure

Delve was a humble word. It meant to dig, to excavate, to reach deep into something. Archaeologists delved into ancient ruins. Philosophers delved into existential questions. The word implied effort, depth, serious inquiry.

Then AI discovered it.

Suddenly, everything required delving. "Let's delve into this topic." "Delving deeper, we find..." "It's important to delve into the nuances." The word appeared in approximately 847% more sentences than any human would naturally write.

Delve didn't ask for this. Delve just wanted to describe digging. Now, the mere appearance of "delve" in the first paragraph of any text triggers immediate AI suspicion.

Survived by: Explore, examine, investigate, look into, dig into, or simply removing the word entirely because you don't need permission to discuss something.

TAPESTRY

Born: 15th century, from Old French tapisserie Died: 2023, metaphorically unraveled

Tapestry was a beautiful word. It described woven fabric, intricate artwork, labor-intensive craftsmanship. Occasionally, writers used it metaphorically to describe something complex and interwoven.

Occasionally.

AI decided that every complex topic was a tapestry. Culture? "A rich tapestry." History? "Woven into the tapestry of time." Team dynamics? "A tapestry of perspectives." The metaphor was deployed so relentlessly that it became meaningless.

The problem isn't that tapestry is a bad metaphor. The problem is that AI uses it reflexively, without any of the intentionality that made it work in the first place. When everything is a tapestry, nothing is.

Survived by: The literal description of what you actually mean, which is usually clearer anyway.

LEVERAGE

Born: 1724, from French levier (to raise) Died: 2024, death by corporatization

Leverage had two lives. Its first life was as a physics term describing mechanical advantage. Its second life was as a business buzzword meaning "use."

AI killed both versions simultaneously.

"Leverage your skills." "Leverage AI tools." "Leverage this opportunity." "Leverage synergies to leverage outcomes." The word became a verbal tic, inserted wherever "use" would have worked better and more clearly.

The tragedy of leverage is that it once meant something specific. Mechanical leverage is a real concept. Using a lever to move something heavy requires understanding force multiplication. Now the word just means "do the thing with the other thing."

Survived by: Use, apply, employ, take advantage of, or simply restructuring the sentence to not need a fancy verb.

MULTIFACETED

Born: 1870, from Latin multus (many) + facies (face) Died: 2023, shattered into too many facets

Multifaceted originally described gemstones. Cut diamonds. Polished surfaces catching light at different angles. The word was technical, precise, beautiful.

Then AI needed a way to say "complicated."

Every problem became multifaceted. Every person had multifaceted qualities. Every issue required a multifaceted approach. The word stopped meaning "having many distinct aspects" and started meaning "I don't want to commit to a specific description."

In fairness to multifaceted, it's genuinely useful when you want to emphasize that something has discrete, identifiable aspects. But AI uses it as a hedge, a way to sound thoughtful without actually analyzing anything.

Survived by: Complex, varied, diverse, or, better yet, actually describing the specific facets you mean.

"EMBARK ON A JOURNEY"

Born: Unknown, some corporate mission statement Died: 2023, never reached its destination

This phrase was always a bit much. Did people really need to "embark on journeys" when they could just... Start things?

But AI elevated the phrase from "occasionally purple prose" to "default sentence structure." Learning to code? Embarking on a journey. Changing careers? Embarking on a journey. Ordering a sandwich? Also a journey, if you let AI describe it.

The phrase implies adventure, transformation, a hero's arc. Most things don't warrant that framing. Sometimes you're just doing something, not embarking anywhere.

Survived by: Starting, beginning, trying, doing, or recognizing that most activities don't require epic narrative framing.

"IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE"

Born: Unclear, likely academic writing Died: 2024, noted to death

This phrase served a purpose. When you genuinely need to flag something that might otherwise be missed, "it's important to note" draws attention appropriately.

AI noted everything.

"It's important to note that the sky is blue." "It's important to note that this is a complex topic." "It's important to note that we should note the importance of noting things." The phrase became a throat-clearing exercise, padding content without adding information.

The test: if you remove "it's important to note that" and the sentence still works, the phrase was never needed.

Survived by: Just saying the important thing without announcing that you're about to say an important thing.

"IN TODAY'S FAST-PACED WORLD"

Born: 1990s marketing copy Died: 2023, couldn't keep up

This phrase was always lazy. It's the written equivalent of a stock photo of people in business suits shaking hands. Generic. Vague. Applicable to literally any context because it says nothing specific.

AI made it inescapable.

Articles about productivity? "In today's fast-paced world." Cooking tips? "In today's fast-paced world, we need quick meals." Meditation advice? "In today's fast-paced world, slowing down is essential." The phrase became a content filler, a way to start any piece without actually introducing anything.

The world has been "fast-paced" for decades now. The phrase carries zero information. It's the textual equivalent of an empty calorie.

Survived by: Actually describing the specific context that matters to your point, or just not having an introductory sentence at all.

"NAVIGATE" and "LANDSCAPE"

Born: Centuries ago, for actual navigation and actual land Died: 2024, lost at sea together

These words died holding hands. AI loves to describe "navigating the landscape" of things that are neither landscapes nor navigable.

"Navigate the complex landscape of digital marketing." "Navigate the evolving landscape of workplace dynamics." "Navigate the landscape of navigating landscapes."

The metaphor is dead. Completely dead. You can't navigate a landscape. Landscapes are things you see from a distance. You navigate through terrain, across territory, along paths. Landscapes just sit there, being landscapey.

But AI doesn't understand metaphors as metaphors. It understands that these words appeared together frequently in training data, so it produces them together, coherently incoherent.

Survived by: Specific descriptions of what you're actually doing in whatever environment you're actually in.

"FOSTER" and "CULTIVATE"

Born: Old English and Latin, respectively Died: 2024, over-gardened

These words made the mistake of sounding both elevated and vague. AI seized on them immediately.

"Foster a culture of innovation." "Cultivate meaningful relationships." "Foster an environment where cultivation can be fostered." The words became interchangeable with "encourage" or "develop" but with more syllables and less clarity.

The agricultural metaphor (cultivate) and the parenting metaphor (foster) both implied slow, careful nurturing. AI stripped that implication away, using the words wherever it needed to sound thoughtful without being specific.

Survived by: Build, develop, encourage, create, or saying what you're actually doing instead of reaching for a metaphor.

A Note on Survivors

The words that survive AI overuse have something in common: they're too specific to be misused.

"Use" survives because it's boring. "Start" survives because it's plain. "Look at" survives because it's conversational. The words that get killed are the ones that sound impressive without committing to anything specific.

That's the pattern. AI gravitates toward words that seem sophisticated, words that hedge, words that could apply to almost any context. These words die because AI demonstrates, through relentless repetition, that they were always a little empty.

The Service Continues

We could list more casualties. "Robust." "Seamless." "Holistic." "Synergy" was already on life support before AI arrived. "Cutting-edge" hasn't meant anything since 2010.

But this service must end somewhere.

The lesson isn't that these words are forbidden. Some of them still have legitimate uses. "Delve" really is the right word when you're describing archaeological excavation. "Multifaceted" genuinely applies to cut gemstones.

The lesson is that when you see these words in your own writing, or in AI-generated content you're editing, pause. Ask whether the word is doing real work or just filling space. Ask whether a simpler word would be clearer.

And, in a few years, after the AI writing gold rush has passed and these words have had time to recover, they'll return to us. Humbler. More careful. Ready to mean something again.

Until then, we mourn.

Spot the Patterns Before Your Readers Do

The words in this obituary are symptoms of a deeper problem: AI writes in predictable patterns. Filler phrases. Excessive hedging. Robotic consistency. Em dashes everywhere.

BotWash formulas target these patterns. The AI Humanizer removes throat-clearing phrases like "it's important to note," strips excessive punctuation, adds natural contractions, and breaks up the mechanical rhythm that makes AI text feel off.

The vocabulary problem? That's on you to catch. But once you know what to look for, you'll see delve and tapestry coming from a mile away.

Try the AI Humanizer or browse all formulas to clean up the patterns.