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
A loud, theatrical display of impatience meant to guilt an underpaid teenager into verifying your age faster.
Read full entry →The anxiety of having to invent a socially acceptable, fulfilling narrative for two days spent entirely horizontal.
Read full entry →The desperate, jerky choreography required to trick an infrared sensor into dispensing three drops of water.
Read full entry →A depressing, repetitive filler conversation utilized by colleagues who have completely run out of things to talk about.
Read full entry →A national phenomenon where the workforce simply stops answering emails and stares vacantly at the clock.
Read full entry →The snide, cowardly escalation of a minor workplace disagreement to upper management via the copy field.
Read full entry →A manufactured, corporate anxiety that makes you feel like a criminal for fulfilling your exact contractual hours.
Read full entry →A bitter domestic war of attrition resulting in one person sweating and the other wearing a heavy coat indoors.
Read full entry →A diplomatic shutdown phrase used to placate an idiot while firmly ensuring their idea never sees the light of day.
Read full entry →The pathetic, culturally ingrained need to ask for forgiveness when asserting your basic consumer rights.
Read full entry →A deliberately misleading introduction to a massive, multi-layered problem that will ruin your entire afternoon.
Read full entry →An invisible wave of depression that washes over a workforce upon learning they must bowl with their manager on a Thursday.
Read full entry →The agonizing mental exhaustion of having to discuss holidays, the weather, and your job while trapped in a styling chair.
Read full entry →A gravelly, embarrassing vocal malfunction that ruins your attempt to sound professional on a video call.
Read full entry →The ruthless, dawn-patrol territorial marking of prime holiday real estate by paranoid British tourists.
Read full entry →A polite managerial silencing tactic used to stop two nerds arguing about a minor technical detail.
Read full entry →The bizarre middle-class compulsion to do the exact job you are paying someone else to do, out of fear of their judgment.
Read full entry →A terrifying physical manifestation of impatience that completely defeats the asynchronous purpose of email.
Read full entry →The incredibly slow, microscopic sipping of a £7 lager to maintain the right to sit at a pub table.
Read full entry →A meaningless string of text used to soften the blow of the aggressive demands that immediately follow it.
Read full entry →A rising, helpless physical panic induced by watching the clock tick past 8:55 AM while trapped on public transport.
Read full entry →The polite, written equivalent of tapping on a sign, pointing out that you already answered their stupid question.
Read full entry →A temporary loss of external audio input caused by the skull-rattling crunch of eating a thick potato snack.
Read full entry →A corporate fabrication designed to cover up the fact that you read the message, hated it, and ignored it until guilt set in.
Read full entry →The dictionary is still being written
Submit it directly for editorial review, without designing a card first.