This article examines a key issue in neology – the discrepancy between the dictionary (lexical) meaning of new words and their psycholinguistic (perceived) mea­ning. The study presents the results of an associative experiment conducted with native speakers of Russian, Swedish, and English. Three neologisms were analyzed: ‘абьюзер’ (‘abuser’), ‘antivaxxare’ (‘anti-vaxxer’), and ‘toxic masculinity’. The paper compares the dictionary definitions of these terms with their psycholinguistic meanings identified through the associative experiment (2024). In all three cases, the psycholinguistic meaning proved to be significantly broader than that recorded in dictionaries. The analysis demonstrates that the examined neologisms are actively used in the respective languages; however, their lexicographic descriptions contain inaccuracies, indicating the need for refinement and expansion in the dictionary representation of emerging lexical items.