The public Definr lexicon
Browse invented words, original phrases, local slang and definitions for oddly specific experiences.
Browse by life domain
Food, home, shopping, travel, weather and the routines of ordinary life.
Relationships, etiquette, community, British culture and public life.
Working life, professions, school, university and study.
Devices, internet culture, entertainment and modern media.
Emotions, habits, health, wellbeing and personal routines.
Pets, wildlife, insects and encounters with the natural world.
Conversation, expressions, humour, writing and imaginative language.
Recently published
The desperate, half-asleep mental arithmetic where you decide that brushing your hair is less important than eight more minutes of sleep.
Read full entry →The miserable, freezing 7 AM chore necessitated by losing the proper scraper tool and being too late for the defroster to work.
Read full entry →The humiliating physical contest between a hungry human and a tightly wound piece of metal, usually ending with a bruised palm and a tea towel.
Read full entry →A manipulative request from a friend or coworker that sounds like a five-minute task but actually takes your entire weekend.
Read full entry →The disgusting act of abandoning a cleaning implement at the bottom of a swampy sink until it smells like a dead animal.
Read full entry →A violent, panic-inducing assault on a restroom lock by a stranger who lacks the patience to wait or look at the 'engaged' sign.
Read full entry →The nihilistic consumption of goods to secure a brief hit of dopamine, driven by the realization that you will never retire anyway.
Read full entry →A message designed with malicious joy, ensuring the sender's colleagues know they are drinking cocktails while the recipient rots in a cubicle.
Read full entry →The financially painful act of handing over extra money for a black coffee simply because the payment screen prompted you to.
Read full entry →A deceitful promise made to oneself to justify sitting on the sofa, ensuring a stressful, chaotic morning the next day.
Read full entry →The deliberate blindness applied to a domestic chore, eventually forcing the victim to wear swimming trunks to the supermarket.
Read full entry →A cold, damp tomb for ambitious dietary purchases, where celery and carrots slowly decompose into a brown sludge.
Read full entry →The risky, olfactory evaluation of an expired liquid to determine if you can avoid walking to the corner shop.
Read full entry →A devastating maternal falsehood used to avoid spending money at the drive-thru, culminating in a deeply disappointing meal.
Read full entry →The psychotic retention of greasy takeaway boxes, taking up an entire kitchen cupboard with unmatched lids and bottoms.
Read full entry →The distinctly British instinct to seek forgiveness from the very person who just assaulted your personal space in a pub.
Read full entry →The intense regret of initiating a polite gesture too early, trapping yourself in an awkward stance for twenty seconds.
Read full entry →A highly embarrassing lack of coordination when boarding the tube, forcing the victim to immediately pretend they meant to do a weird hop.
Read full entry →The devastating, day-ruining vehicular assault where a driver hits a kerbside lake and drenches a helpless pedestrian.
Read full entry →The absolute depths of weekend public transport despair, inflicted upon travelers when the rail network decides to do 'engineering works'.
Read full entry →The homicidal anger experienced when trying to walk past oblivious pedestrians wielding eye-level metal spikes in the drizzle.
Read full entry →The humiliating, flashing-red freeze where you stand helpless while other shoppers judge you for buying age-restricted medicine.
Read full entry →The unforgivable, socially treasonous act of sliding into the front of a line, instantly making you an enemy of the state.
Read full entry →The horrifying realization at the front of a queue that the establishment is engaged in tax evasion and you only have Apple Pay.
Read full entry →The dictionary is still being written
Submit it directly for editorial review, without designing a card first.