United States · American Englishate
verb · Informal
Performed or executed something brilliantly. 'She ate that.' Often extended to 'ate and left no crumbs' for a flawless performance.
United States · American English
American Slang
American slang is the most widely exported informal vocabulary on earth, which is exactly what makes it hard to pin down. A term can be current in Atlanta, stale in Los Angeles and only just arriving in London, all in the same month. Much of what the rest of the world hears as generic "American" slang originated in African American Vernacular English and reached the mainstream through music, sport and, more recently, social platforms — a route worth knowing, because it explains why so many terms carry a history that their casual users are unaware of.
The entries below favour vocabulary with some staying power over whatever is peaking this week. Where a term has a specific regional home, or a specific origin that changes how it lands, we say so.
56 terms, each with definitions and worked examples.
By topic
Each page below collects every American term we have on one subject, side by side.
Start with these
The terms below carry the most usage detail — register, origin and the situations where they go wrong. They are the ones worth reading in full before the rest.
All American slang A–Z
56 terms
Terms beginning with A
Terms beginning with B
bail
verb · Informal
To leave abruptly, or to back out of a commitment. 'She bailed on dinner.'
basic
adjective · Informal
Unoriginal; liking only mainstream things. A dismissal of someone's taste rather than their character — and one aimed disproportionately at young women, which is worth noticing.
Use with care
bet
interjection · Informal
Okay; got it; sounds good. A one-word confirmation.
+1 more sense
bless your heart
phrase, idiom · Regional
Genuine sympathy for someone's misfortune.
+1 more sense
Use with care
bougie
adjective · Informal · BOO-zhee
Pretentiously upmarket; aspiring to luxury. Applied to tastes, places and people, usually with affectionate mockery.
bro
noun · Informal
Brother; a male friend, or any man in direct address.
+2 more senses
Use with care
broke
adjective · Colloquial
Having no money. Dead broke and flat broke intensify it.
bucks
noun · Colloquial
Dollars. 'Twenty bucks.' Entirely ordinary and used in contexts where the formal word would sound stiff.
Terms beginning with C
canceled
adjective, verb · Informal
Publicly rejected after a controversy, with the aim of withdrawing support and attention. A genuinely contested term — what counts as being cancelled, and whether it happens at all, is politically loaded.
+1 more sense
Use with care
cheugy
adjective · Dated · CHOO-gee
Out of date in a specific way: earnestly following trends that passed a few years ago. Coined in 2013 and briefly ubiquitous in 2021.
chill
adjective, verb · Colloquial
Relaxed, easy-going. Of a person, a place or a plan: 'he's chill', 'a chill evening'.
+2 more senses
clutch
adjective · Informal
Coming through exactly when it matters most. Of a person, a play or an object that saves the day at the critical moment.
Terms beginning with D
deadass
adverb, adjective · Informal
Seriously; for real. Both as an intensifier and as a standalone challenge: 'deadass?'
dip
verb · Informal
To leave, usually quickly and often without ceremony. 'Let's dip.'
doing the most
phrase · Informal
Overdoing it; trying far too hard. Its counterpart, doing the least, means putting in no effort at all.
dude
noun, interjection · Colloquial
A man; a guy. Increasingly used regardless of gender in direct address.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with E
Terms beginning with F
facts
interjection · Informal
Agreed; that's exactly right. A one-word endorsement of what was just said.
fire
adjective · Informal
Excellent, outstanding. 'That's fire.'
fixin' to
phrase · Regional
About to; on the point of. Marks immediate future intention, and is a genuine grammatical construction rather than a colourful phrase.
flake
verb, noun · Informal
To cancel plans at the last minute, especially as a habit. A flake is someone who reliably does this.
Terms beginning with G
ghost
verb · Informal
To cut off all contact with someone abruptly and without explanation. Originally about dating and now used of friends, recruiters and clients too.
GOAT
noun · Informal · GOHT, or spelled out
Greatest Of All Time. An acronym, usually of an athlete or musician, and the subject of endless argument.
grind
noun, verb · Informal
Relentless hard work, especially toward a goal. 'Back on the grind.'
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with H
hang
verb, noun · Colloquial
To spend unstructured time with someone. 'Want to hang?'
+1 more sense
hella
adverb, adjective · Regional
Very; a lot of. Northern Californian, and a reliable regional marker — Bay Area speakers use it constantly and Southern Californians largely don't.
highkey
adverb · Informal
Openly, very much, without hedging. Formed as a deliberate counterpart to lowkey.
hits different
phrase · Informal
Affects you in a particular, heightened way — usually because of timing or context rather than the thing itself.
Terms beginning with J
Terms beginning with K
Terms beginning with L
let him cook
phrase, idiom · Informal
Give them room to work — their plan may look strange but it will come good. Sometimes sincere, sometimes sarcastic about something clearly going wrong.
lowkey
adverb · Informal
Slightly; secretly; a bit. Hedges an admission the speaker is half-embarrassed by: 'I lowkey want to leave'.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with M
Terms beginning with N
Terms beginning with P
Terms beginning with R
Terms beginning with S
salty
adjective · Informal
Bitter or resentful, usually about something small, and usually in a way the speaker finds funny.
say less
phrase · Informal
You don't have to explain further, I'm in. Signals immediate agreement — the opposite of asking someone to be quiet.
shade
noun · Informal
A subtle, deniable insult. Throwing shade is criticising someone obliquely enough that they cannot easily object.
shady
adjective · Informal
Dishonest or of questionable integrity. Where sketchy is about safety, shady is about character.
shoot the breeze
phrase, idiom · Colloquial
To chat idly about nothing in particular.
sick
adjective · Informal
Excellent, impressive. Came out of skate and surf culture and is now general, though it reads slightly older than fire or slaps.
Use with care
side hustle
noun · Colloquial
A second source of income alongside a main job. Framed as entrepreneurial, though often it is simply a second job that wages have made necessary.
situationship
noun · Informal
A romantic involvement that has not been defined and probably will not be — more than friends, less than a relationship, and usually unequally understood by the two people in it.
sketchy
adjective · Informal
Unsafe, untrustworthy, of dubious quality. Of neighbourhoods, websites, food and people.
slaps
verb · Informal
Of music: is excellent. 'This track slaps.' Extended to food and, increasingly, to anything good.
spill
verb · Informal
To share information you have been holding back. Usually as a one-word imperative: 'spill'.
sus
adjective · Informal
Suspicious; not right. Of people, claims and situations.
Terms beginning with T
Terms beginning with V
Terms beginning with W
wicked
adverb · Regional
Very, extremely. A New England intensifier: wicked good, wicked cold. Note that it modifies adjectives and is not itself one.
wild
adjective · Informal
Remarkable, outrageous, hard to believe. Standing alone as a reaction — 'that's wild' — it is the default American response to any surprising story.
word
interjection · Informal
Agreed; I hear you. An acknowledgement.
+1 more sense