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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Latest slang terms

An illness picked up at a convention from crowds, exhaustion, and poor self-care; synonymous with con crud.

Espresso con panna — a shot or two of espresso served in a demitasse with a generous cap of whipped cream. Dessert in a cup. Sits in the dead space between an espresso and a macchiato on most menus.

A friend or companion who carries other attendees' purchases, props, and gear around the convention floor, freeing the cosplayer to move and pose.

An attendee who naturally takes on a caretaker role in a convention group, making sure friends drink water, eat real meals, and rest. Male or gender-neutral variants are con dad and con parent.

The noticeable jump in costume quality and craftsmanship a cosplayer shows from one convention (or year) to the next.

A humorous term for the collective smell of sweat and crowds that builds up at a busy convention over a weekend.

The stressful, often sleepless final push to complete a cosplay in the days or hours before a convention, typically involving late-night sewing and hot-glue marathons. Also called con crunch or cosplay crunch.

A respiratory or general illness contracted after a convention, blamed on close quarters, poor sleep, junk food, and thousands of shared surfaces. Also called con plague or the con-plague.

'Communications Security' — measures that protect communications from interception and exploitation, including encryption, secure equipment, and key material handling.

A tight group of buildings on the map that becomes its own little battlefield — full of angles, doorways and rooftops to hold or push. Squads fight over compounds for the cover and the loot.

Compensation, especially workers' compensation for a workplace injury.

Short for compulsory heterosexuality. The idea that society funnels everyone into straightness by default, so many lesbians spend years assuming they like men because they were never offered another script. Used constantly in coming-out discourse, often as the 'aha' that explains the boyfriends that never quite worked. The slang shorthand 'comphet' exploded out of Tumblr's Lesbian Masterdoc.

A friend, buddy, or homie; a warm term of camaraderie.

The combination of champions, heroes or units your team has picked, judged as a whole. A good comp has the right mix of damage, frontline and utility — the pieces work together, not just individually.

A command or statement meaning to leave/get out of a place, or to take something off/remove it.

A standard Southern word for the toilet.

Communications equipment, or by extension the personnel who operate and maintain it.

A piece of cosplay commissioned from a maker for a fee, rather than built by the wearer; also the act of ordering such work.

The canteen where prisoners purchase food, hygiene items, and other approved goods from their accounts.

The apprentice rung of the brigade. A commis works under a chef de partie on a station, prepping, plating, and absorbing the rhythm of service. Bottom of the food chain but the pipeline to everything above it.

A reference to large sums of money, counted by the commas in the number ($1,000,000 has two).

A throw performed with a motion input, like a special move, that beats blocking entirely. Hold back to defend all you want, the command grab snatches you anyway. The grappler's whole game plan.

Commonwealth Avenue, a major Boston thoroughfare running through the city and out toward the suburbs.

coming down the pike

An event, product, or change that is on its way in the near future.