An assessment of someone's energy or mood — passing means they're cool to be around, failing means the vibe is wrong.
A non-profit made a tool for them This article is more than 1 month old Vibe Check, a free and anonymous alternative to AI, talks teens through consent, boundaries and apologies Val Odiembo volunteers at her former hi…
Illustration: Marcel Kohlr/The Guardian This article is more than **3 years old** # Vibe check: what does the most overused word of our era actually mean?
An assessment of someone's energy or mood — passing means they're cool to be around, failing means the vibe is wrong. Pass/fail criteria are vibes-based and final; arguing the verdict fails you instantly. The vibe check is not a democracy.
"He said ‘actually, technically' twice. Failed the vibe check."
vibe check means An assessment of someone's energy or mood — passing means they're cool to be around, failing means the vibe is wrong. It's mostly used on TikTok and short-form video. It's casual and generally safe with friends and online. It's standard online vocabulary; nothing inherently concerning about hearing it.
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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A quick vibe assessment of whether someone or something gives off relaxed, unbothered, effortlessly cool energy — the feline equivalent of a vibe check. If you pass the cat check, you're operating on that low-effort, high-impact frequency that cats have perfected over millennia. If you fail, you're trying too hard, caring too much, or just generally radiating dog energy. Used online to evaluate fits, attitudes, playlists, or entire personalities with minimal effort and maximum judgment.
The overall atmosphere, mood or feeling something gives off. Both a noun ("the vibe in here is off") and a verb ("just vibing"). To "catch a vibe" is to enjoy the mood you're in; to "kill the vibe" is to ruin it. A workhorse of modern English, used so broadly that some commentators complain it's replacing more precise emotional vocabulary.
A mid check is an honest, blunt quality assessment that arrives at the most unflattering verdict: it's fine, it's whatever, it's not good or bad enough to feel strongly about. Where a vibe check captures the energy of a moment, a mid check is specifically asking whether something clears the bar — and concluding it doesn't quite. Mid checks are often delivered socially about creative work, food, an event, or a date: not a takedown, but an honest refusal to hype something just to be nice.
We want you to share with Democracy Vibe Check and have your voice on a special episode (spoiler alert: our next and final episode!) of Democracy Vibe Check.Support for the 2023 Civic Season is generously provided by…
vibe check means An assessment of someone's energy or mood — passing means they're cool to be around, failing means the vibe is wrong. It's mostly used on TikTok and short-form video. It's casual and generally safe with friends and online. It's standard online vocabulary; nothing inherently concerning about hearing it.
"vibe check" is slang. It means: An assessment of someone's energy or mood — passing means they're cool to be around, failing means the vibe is wrong. Register: casual. Use it in: casual conversation and online posts. Avoid in: formal writing and professional emails.
“A non-profit made a tool for them This article is more than 1 month old Vibe Check, a free and anonymous alternative to AI, talks teens through consent, boundaries and apologies Val Odiembo volunteers at her former high school a few times a month, teaching teens about consent and healthy relationships.”
“Illustration: Marcel Kohlr/The Guardian This article is more than **3 years old** # Vibe check: what does the most overused word of our era actually mean?”
“We want you to share with Democracy Vibe Check and have your voice on a special episode (spoiler alert: our next and final episode!) of Democracy Vibe Check.Support for the 2023 Civic Season is generously provided by the Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brother Fund’s Our Common Purpose Initiative, the Arthur M.”
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"Failed the vibe check" is the polite way to say someone's energy was wrong. "Passed the vibe check" is unusual — you rarely announce a pass, only a fail. The test is one-directional.
"He said ‘actually, technically' twice. Failed the vibe check."
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A short, informal check of someone's emotional state or whether the energy in a room/channel is good. 'Vibe check failed' = the vibe is off. Spread from Black Twitter into general meme use around 2019, now standard Discord/Twitch chat vocab. Often paired with the 'vibe check baseball bat' meme image.
streamer is grumpy today, vibe check failed
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