American Slang Words and Phrases:: Engaged in Things That Can Be Done While Sitting On A Couch

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Awesome (adj) is such a popular slang word in English all over the world

and you’ll hear everyone from the young to old saying it.

American Slang Words and Phrases:


1. Bail — Intransitive verb for leaving abruptly.

2. Feeling blue; have the blues — A feeling of depression or sadness.

3. A buck — Slang term for a the American dollar.

4. By the skin of (my/your/his/her) teeth — just barely.

5. Creep (n.) — An unpleasantly weird/strange person.

6. Couch Potato — A lazy person who spends the bulk of their time
engaged in things that can be done while sitting on a couch.

7. Cram — To study feverishly before an exam typically done after


neglecting to study consistently.

8. Crash — To abruptly fall asleep, or to show up without invitation.

9. Down to earth — And adjective for practicality and lack of pretense.

10. Drive up the wall — To irritate.

11. For Real — A proclamation of honesty.

12. Going Dutch — When each person, usually in a dating scenario, pays
for his/her own meal.

13. The cold shoulder — A metaphor for deliberately ignoring someone.

14. Give a ring — To call someone on the telephone.

15. Hyped (adj.) — A very excited state.

16. Hang out — To casually gather together or spend time with someone in
a social manner.

17. Jack up — An abrupt increase, typically in the price of something.

18. Knock — To speak negatively, to disparage, to badmouth.

19. Lighten up — To relax and take things too seriously. Typically stated as
an appeal to someone who is acting uptight.

20. Pass the buck — To deflect responsibility onto someone else.


21. Piece of cake — A metaphor to describe something that is easy or
effortless.

22. Pig out — A metaphor for binge eating.

23. Plead the fifth — References the fifth amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which allows a witness in court to refuse questions on the grounds
that they risk self-incrimination.

24. Screw up — To make a mistake, i.e. mess up.

25. Sweet — An adjective that describes something that is good, or nice.

26. Tight — An adjective that describes closeness between competitors, i.e.


a tight competition.

27. Trash — Can be used as an intransitive verb for destruction. e.g. “He
trashed the car.”

28. Uptight — Stuffy, persnickety, the opposite of relaxed.

29. Wrap (something) up — To finish or complete something.

30. Zonked — Completely exhausted.Our next post will cover British slang
terms that Americans find confusing. Until then, here are some of our favorite
American slang words:

31. Jacked- (adj) A word describing someone who exercises a lot or who has
large muscles. For example “Tom spends a lot of time in the gym – explains
why he is so jacked up now”
32. gotcha – (exclamation) You would you this word on it’s own to
acknowledge that you understand something someone is saying.
33. Swag- (noun) ‘Swag’ has two informal meanings in English. One
meaning refers to the free objects you receive at promotional events.
34. Another is in reference to the manner in which someone carries themselves.

35. Slaying it – (noun) ‘Slay” or “slaying it” means doing really well. In
American colloquial English, you may hear someone say ” Mark is slaying it
as a
36. turn up- (verb) To “turn up” means to party very hard, usually with the
implication of drinking alcohol.
37. Yolo- (phrase and expression) ‘Yolo’ is short for the phrase, “You
Only Live Once”. This phrase is popular with teenagers and young adults.
38. It’s meaning is implying that you should live your life how you want because
you only get one of them. The phrase is shortened to ‘yolo’ in verbal
conversation.

39. Asap – This is an acronym for, “As soon as possible”. It is often just
expressed verbally as ‘asap’. Ex: “How soon do you need the car?” “Asap!”.
40. Fly- (adj) A description word meaning, “really young and hip”. Often used
while describing someone’s clothing attire.
41. Drop- (verb) A word used when enlightening someone with information.
Often heard in the expression, “let me drop some knowledge on you”.
42. Also used in reference to releasing music in the expression, “I’m gonna drop
this mixtape”.

43. Slide- (verb) This word is used for it’s literal meaning ‘glide’, but used in
terms of a person becoming apart of another person’s life. Ex: “I’m going to
slide into her life.”
44. Bestie- (noun) Meaning best friends. Ex: “She’s my bestie”.
45. Hot- (adj) Not to be confused with the temperature, ‘hot’ is a common
word in American English to describe something as extremely beautiful or
sexy
46. Fire- (adj) Saying something is ‘fire’ means it is outstanding. You can use
this slang word to describe everything from food to music.
47. retweet (verb)- Originating from the online news and networking service
Twitter, the linguistic expression, “Retweet”, in conversation means the
person agrees with you.
48. Saying this in informal conversation is a form of validating what someone is
saying.

49. Dime- (adj) While not as common in modern spoken English, the word
‘dime’ is sometimes used to describe a female who is sweet, good looking,
and kind.
50. It stems from the expression, “She’s a ten!” Meaning she is given a ‘score’ of
10/10. In American money a dime is worth $0.10, hence, the word ‘dime’.

51. Swing- (verb) The term ‘swing’ has multiple informal meanings in the
English language. One meaning is used when telling someone you will
come by their house or workplace for a short period of time by saying, “I’ll
swing by”.
52. Another informal meaning of the word ‘swing’ is to explain your sexual
orientation. If someone asks if you are a homosexual, you may respond by
saying, “I don’t swing that way”

53. Hitched- (verb, adj) In slang, ‘hitched’ means two people have
married.
54. Goals – (verb, adj) If you see someone commenting #goals on a
Facebook photo, it is a subtle way of saying they are jealous and want a
similar experience.
55. Squad – (adj) Squad refers to your group of friends in slang English.
When someone says “this is my squad” they are referring to a group of
friends.
56. GOAT – (adj) GOAT is an acronym that stands for greatest of all time. In
conversational English or in the world of social media, this is a very
commonly used expression. For example, you can say “these sneakers are
GOAT”
57. Low Key – (adj) If you see someone says “let’s keep it low-key” for now,
it means they don’t want to tell everyone about it.
58. Another example is: “It is a low key event attended by only a few of my best
friends” – means it is an event that was exclusive to a small group.

59. Nerd out – (verb) To ‘nerd out’ means to get so enthralled and engaged
in a seemingly nerdy or geeky activity or topic.
60. Mood – (verb) Mood refers something that is relevant. For example, in
informal English someone could say “My 2018 mood is all about self
improvement and growth”
61. Chill- (adj, verb) Another common colloquial word in American informal
vocabulary. ‘Chill’ can describe something that is relaxed, easy, and fun. It
can also be used as a verb meaning you are relaxing, and being easy going.
62. Bombed- (verb) Usually used in an academic setting, ‘bombed’ means
to completely fail something. It is also used as a verb to say you are getting
very drunk
63. Brah – (pronoun) Brah is another way of saying “are you serious” in
Conversational American speaking.
64. On point – (adj) On point is a colloquial way of saying that something or
someone is attractive or fashionable. For example, you can say, “Her
makeup was on point”
65. On fleek – (adj) On fleek is another way of saying something or
someone is attractive or fashionable. If you are hanging out with someone
who uses a lot of slang, you might hear them so “Yo brows are on fleek” –
which means your eye brows look great!
66. Poppin’- (adj) This word is used to describe a social event that is doing
very well. Often used in terms of parties, gatherings, or clubs.
67. Lit – (adj) Lit has a very similar meaning to poppin. You can say “the club
was lit” – meaning the club was fun!
68. Ride or Die (adj) – Originally a term that bikers used, ride or die is used
in American Spoken English to refer to best friend, lover or partner. For
example, you can say, “Lori and I have gone through some stuff but she is
my ride or die”
69. Dope- (adj) A general word that describe anything or anyone as being
very fun, exciting, or cool. For example, you can say “Kevin is fun to hangout
with. He is dope”.
70. sick – (adj) You would think this word has a negative connotation,
however, ‘sick’ is similar in meaning to, “very exciting!”, “amazing!”, etc.
71. While it can be used to describe a person, it is most often used in American
slang English to describe experiences or things that someone thinks is
amazing

72. Chick- (noun) Another word meaning young female, generally referring
to females the ages of 12-40 years old. ‘Chick’ is most often used between
people who know each other. However, it can also be used to imply a female
you have no connection with.
73. BAE – (noun) BAE is an acronym that stands for “before anyone else”. It
could refer to your significant other or best friend. Example is Jenna is my
BAE

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