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

Helping and closely watching a lifter on a heavy set so they can complete or safely bail on their reps.

A common one-piece handheld pipe with a bowl at one end, a carb on the side and a mouthpiece, named for its spoon-like shape.

A bodyboarder, so called because of the soft foam ('sponge') board they ride lying down. Often used teasingly by stand-up surfers.

An archaic, humorous term for money, still used for comic effect. Also spelled spondulix or spondoolies.

Short for 'exploit': a piece of code or a flaw used to make software behave in an unintended way.

The time stamped at the end of each section of a run. Tracked in a splits tool like LiveSplit so you can see exactly where you are gaining or losing.

One player pushes a sidelane hard, forcing the enemy to send people to stop them. That either gives your team a numbers advantage elsewhere, or lets the splitpusher crack a tower. Death by map pressure.

The way a training program divides workouts among muscle groups or movement patterns across the week.

A big, cone-shaped joint of marijuana, sometimes mixed with tobacco.

The artificial sweetener of sugar daddies. He talks the talk, books the dates, maybe pays per meet, but he's not generationally wealthy and can't keep up a real monthly allowance. Middle-class guy LARPing as rich. Babies tolerate Splendas when they're new, drop them when something real comes along.

A shot, typically from three-point range, that swishes through cleanly. The 'splash' evokes the sound and motion of the net.

To react with sudden petulant anger, as a baby spits out its dummy (pacifier).

Specifically to freestyle or perform a verse on the spot.

Loosely, having a dramatic emotional unraveling about anything.

The flashiest of the five elements of vogue femme. You spin a full 360 on one or both feet, then drop into a dip, landing on your back with a leg in the air, hitting the floor on the beat. The crowd lives for it. Outsiders call the drop a death drop or a shablam, but in ballroom the element is spins and dips and the move itself is the dip.

A bribery dressed as an allocation. The bank hands a corporate exec personal shares in a red-hot IPO that's guaranteed to pop, the exec flips for an easy six figures, and a few months later their company hires that same bank for its next deal. Banned by FINRA Rule 5131 after Frank Quattrone made it famous in the dot-com era.

A ramp feature made of two quarterpipes placed back to back so their coping meets, allowing tricks transferred over the shared top edge.

spin your wheels

To work hard but achieve nothing, like tyres spinning in mud.

UK prison shorthand for a cell search. Officers come in, turn the place over — mattress lifted, books fanned, toothpaste squeezed — hunting for phones, drugs, blades, brew. Usually heard as 'pad spin' (pad = cell). Random, hated, routine.

spilling the tea

To share gossip or the honest, behind-the-scenes truth, the stuff people actually want to know. The tea is the real story; spilling it is handing it over. Originally 'T' for truth in Black queer scene talk, it became 'tea' and went everywhere.

To spill the tea is to hand over the gossip — every detail, no holding back. It comes from Black gay and drag slang where 'T' meant truth, so spilling the T was telling all. Predates its Drag Race and TikTok takeover by decades. The drink imagery ('spill,' 'sip,' 'no tea no shade') got layered on later once 'T' became 'tea.'

A hit that sends the enemy hurtling downward. Land one while they're offstage and there's no recovering from it, they just get nailed into the blast zone below. The flashiest way to take a stock.

By extension, anything dazed, scattered, or knocked senseless, even without liquor involved.

Very angry or bitterly disappointed (intensified form of 'spewin').