English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

What does that word actually mean? Our slang dictionary explains modern slang clearly — Gen Z, internet, British and street slang — with real definitions, examples and where each term came from.

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Gen Z Slangrizz, delulu, slay Internet Slangbrainrot, based, mid British Slangpeng, bare, peak AAVEbussin, finna, cap

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A trick in which the board is half-kickflipped, momentarily caught upside down under the front foot, then flipped back over to land. Named for how easily it can hurt you.

A player's throwing arm, especially a powerful one that fires the ball like a hose blasting water.

Used as a noun meaning worthless nonsense.

A prison officer who smuggles contraband for inmates — phones, drugs, tobacco, whatever pays. 'Horse' because they carry the load in and out. The single most valuable asset an inside crew can have, and the riskiest one to lose.

The deliberate clash between the cosy meaning 'good' and the menacing English sound 'horror show' is part of Burgess's irony about violence.

Mock-surgical term for an especially difficult, drawn-out and messy operation.

Fake tumour name for a real nightmare. Built from 'horrendous' + the medical suffix '-oma' (tumour), it labels a patient or case so tangled with complications, comorbidities and bad outcomes that it stops being one disease and starts being a genre. Reserved for the truly grim — the kind of admission that gets a whispered warning at handover.

The male with whom a woman has an affair; the outside lover. Female equivalent is 'hornerwoman'.

To have an affair behind a partner's back; to cuckold. Widely used across Trinidad and Barbados.

How high a player can jump; great leaping ability.

A fair, dance or festival; the Newcastle Town Moor 'Hoppings' is Europe's largest travelling fair.

A short hopping kick that launches the opponent into a juggle. Most of the cast has one, and it's a staple for punishing whiffed lows.

A blend of 'hope' and 'opium', the intoxicating optimism that keeps traders believing a coin will pump against all signals.

A casual summons to leave the text channel and talk out loud. Reads as friendly with mates, mildly ominous when the server admin says it, and faintly flirty when a stranger DMs it at 1am.

A spirited shout used by the Navy, especially Navy SEALs, to acknowledge orders or express motivation — the naval equivalent of 'hooah' and 'oorah.'

Call-and-response holler used to spot or summon your crew. You shout it, they shout it back — you've found each other. Old-school Atlanta, OutKast-coded.

In St. Louis usage, a derogatory term for a low-class, unsophisticated person, the local equivalent of 'redneck' or 'white trash.' Unrelated to the Indiana sense.

House. Same word, just the Geordie/Scots vowel doing its thing — long 'oo' where RP says 'ow'. Shared across the Tyne and the border into Scotland.

An informal farewell; also spelt 'hoo roo' or 'ooroo'.

A common nickname for basketball, referring to the hoops used as goals.

A basketball player, especially one who is genuinely skilled and lives for the game.

The basketball rim and net, the target you score into.

A person who drives dangerously and noisily; more broadly a lout. Also a verb: to hoon around.

Truancy — cutting class or ducking out of work. 'Playing hooky' is taking an unauthorized day off.