Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs lost a critical game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, but the star tight end and girlfriend Taylor Swift may have gotten something of a consolation prize — a place in linguistic history.
The Chiefs had a chance to claw their way back in the division race against the AFC West-leading Broncos this weekend, but stalled out on offense at the end and lost 22-19. The defeat dropped the Chiefs out of the playoff picture and leaves them with a difficult road ahead.
Amid the bad news, Kelce got some spotlight for his relationship as Cambridge Dictionary took inspiration from the famous couple for its word of the year.
Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift Inspire New Word
As the Chiefs were recovering from the loss to the Broncos, Cambridge Dictionary announced its “word of the year” for 2025 that took inspiration from Kelce and Swift’s relationship. The word was parasocial, an adjective described as “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence.”
A list of examples of the word pointed to Kelce and Swift announcing their engagement this summer.
“Global coverage of the way in which Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Travis Kelce caused lookups of parasocial to surge as the media dissected fans’ reactions,” the description noted. ” Posts by fans say I’m not being parasocial about it’ and talk about ‘a Swiftie being parasocial for ten minutes straight.’ ”
Swift has acknowledged the unavoidable spotlight that she and Kelce face, saying in an October appearance on BBC Radio 2’s The Scott Mills Breakfast Show that they both have to balance public and private lives.
“We both, as a living, as a job, as a passion, perform for three and a half hours in NFL stadiums,” Swift said. “We both do three and a half hour shows to entertain people for three and a half hours in NFL stadiums. When I’m in those stadiums, it’s a dressing room, but when he’s in those exact same stadiums, it’s a locker room.”
Swift added that the spotlight has brought out some competitiveness in both of them.
“And we’re both competitive, like in fun ways, not in ways that eat away at us, but just like we just love it,” Swift added.
Travis Kelce, Chiefs Desperate to Get Back on Track
Kelce likely has a much bigger priority than dictionaries this week. The loss to the Broncos dropped the Chiefs to 5-5 and down to ninth place in the AFC, giving them a steep climb just to get back into wild-card contention.
Kelce was not in the mood to talk to reporters after Sunday’s loss, saying only that he can’t focus on the team’s surprising record.
“If you’re going to ask me about the record, I could care less about that right now,” he said.
Kelce and the Chiefs face another challenge this week as they face the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts.
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