Meaning
To view many or all episodes of a television series in rapid succession, typically in one long sitting or over a single weekend. The word is neutral and widely accepted in everyday speech, though it often carries a self-deprecating nod to overindulgent viewing habits. Fully standard informal English; neutral, though it can imply indulgence when used about one's own habits. Regional use: General English worldwide.
Origin
The compound long predates streaming. Archival research summarised on Wikipedia ties binge to television in Variety in 1948, records a TV binge reference in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1952, prints binge viewing in a December 1986 Philadelphia Inquirer piece about stockpiled soap operas, and finds the verb binge watch in a Usenet post by an X-Files fan on 20 December 1998; Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to 2003. The word patterned on older binge drinking and binge eating. Mainstream uptake arrived in 2013, when Netflix began releasing whole seasons at once, and Collins English Dictionary made it Word of the Year in November 2015. Pandemic lockdowns in 2020 produced a further documented surge.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- binge (verb, as in binged the whole season)
- binge-viewing
- binge-watching
- marathon-watching
Usage Examples
- We binge-watched the entire season in one rainy Sunday.
- He admitted he had binge-watched the whole show twice before the finale even aired.
- The box set was so cheap that binge-watching it over the holidays felt inevitable.