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

When a platform quietly tanks your reach — your posts still go up, your followers might see them, but the FYP/explore stops surfacing you to new eyes. No email, no warning, just numbers cratering overnight. Causes range from real (flagged audio, hashtag bans, community-guideline strikes) to imagined (the patron saint of underperforming creators).

When a platform silently restricts how many people see your posts — your replies don't surface, your hashtags don't show, your follower count stalls — without ever telling you it's happening. Officially denied, constantly alleged.

Slang for a radiologist, who spends the day interpreting shadowy images.

To be shacked is to be inside the barrel, fully covered by the curling wave. A synonym for getting tubed or pitted.

An older name for the dip, picked up especially on the West Coast where dancers folded the move into choreography. Here's the twist the heads will tell you: it was never really a move name at all. It's the onomatopoeic sound shouted by the MC or the crowd when someone hits a dip, the audio punctuation. Ballroom icon Jack Mizrahi, who originated the usage, says it was 'shawham' anyway, not shablam.

Added to a sentence for emphasis, resignation, or to soften a statement — the closest single-word English equivalent shifts depending on context, from "anyway" to "though" to "still."

Chips. Anglicised from the Welsh 'sglodion'. What you order from the chippy after a session, smothered in salt and vinegar, eaten out the paper while you walk.

Tag for content you can open in public — no nudity, no gore, no slurs. Used on Discord channels, art commissions, and links you're flagging as boss-friendly.

Fake. Cockney rhyming slang where Sexton Blake — the Victorian detective hero — rhymes with fake. Used of dodgy goods, knock-off gear, or anything pulled off a Romford Road market stall with the label still wonky. Often clipped to 'sexton'.

Sex Siren is the ballroom category all about seduction — walkers compete on raw sensual magnetism, working the floor and the crowd with overt sex appeal. It's a performance of desire: who can be the most irresistible, the most magnetic, the most impossible to look away from. Added to the ball roster in the mid-90s, it's one of the most charged categories on any program.

Sea trout — a migratory brown trout that runs up Welsh rivers in summer. Prized by anglers on the Teifi, Tywi and Towy. The proper Welsh word for what English fishermen just call sea trout, and any chef worth their salt on the West Wales coast will have it on the specials board.

Compensation, often based on tenure, and sometimes continued benefits, provided to an employee upon involuntary separation, typically in a layoff. It cushions the transition to a new job.

An individual wave belonging to a set, generally larger and better-formed than the smaller waves in between.

Acting on, or starting, conflict driven by which gang set you claim — disrespecting another set, jumping someone over colours, getting in your feelings about turf. N.W.A made the phrase national with 'Set Trippin'' but it's been street vocabulary in LA since the 80s.

Hand me / give me / pass me. The MLE way to ask for something to be passed your way — a cig, a drink, the aux, anything.

A cluster of consecutive repetitions performed without resting in between.

A period of skating, whether alone or with friends, at a park or spot. Often shortened to 'sesh.'

Cannabis considered good enough for a regular group session, not saved for special occasions.

Casual abbreviation of 'session,' meaning a single workout.

A work van used for servicing or trade jobs.

Sausages cooked at a fundraising 'sausage sizzle', often outside a hardware store or shop.

A barbecued sausage on bread sold at community fundraisers, iconically outside Bunnings hardware stores.

In remote areas, the service station that doubles as the town's only general store.

servo sausage roll

A pastry-wrapped sausage-meat roll bought at a service station; a staple of the servo pie warmer.