English is hard, and conversational American English is even harder because we use words in all kinds of informal and unexpected ways. To help you adjust to American English, we’ve made a short list of common slang terms and what they mean in context.

Awesome

Awesome is a really popular slang word in American English and all over the world. The strict definition is “inspiring awe”, but often when using the word Americans just mean that something is really good or wonderful. It can be used in a sentence or it could be used in a one word reply.

Cool 

The dictionary definition of cool means “a little cold”, but it is often used like awesome to mean ‘great’ or ‘fantastic’. It can also be used to show you’re okay with an idea. Be careful because the normal meaning of cool is still sometimes used so you have to listen to it in context to understand what’s being said.

Beat 

In normal terms, beat would be used as a verb meaning ‘to win’ (the Packers beat the Patriots) or ‘to hit’ (Jack, stop beating your brother) however, in slang or everyday English it means something completely different. If you hear your friend saying “I’m beat”, it means he or she is very tired or exhausted.

To Hangout

In everyday English, to ‘hangout’ means to spend time together casually. If someone asks you where you usually hangout, they want to know in which place you prefer to be when you have free time. And if your friend asks you if you want to hangout with them, they’re asking you if you’re free and want to spend some time together. If you ask your friend what they are doing and they say “just hanging out”, it means they are free and not doing anything special.

To Chill (Out)

In more formal contexts, to chill means to make something cold – such as putting a dish in the refrigerator. But in everyday English, to chill means to do relaxing activities – similar to hanging out. If someone tells you to chill out, that generally means that you are currently agitated and they’d like you to relax.

Amped

If you’re amped about something, you’re super excited or you can’t wait for something to happen.

Bust/Busted

Formally, bust means to break something; and busted means something is broken. But informally, if you bust someone, you’ve caught them doing something they shouldn’t be doing/saying/hiding. To get busted is to get caught doing something bad.

Sick

Cough cough sneeze sneeze… no not this kind of sick. If your buddy says that the party was sick he’s saying he thought it was really cool, awesome or the best. In this case it has a similar meaning to the word awesome, however, you probably will only hear teenagers and college students saying this—oh and maybe those Californian surfers!

Cheesy

A food can be cheesy if it has a lot of cheese on it, but this word more often means that something is cheap or tacky. For example, a “cheesy pick-up line” would be one that is uncool or over-used.

No problem

This is a common response to thanking someone and it means you’re welcome or that it wasn’t a big deal. It doesn’t necessarily literally mean that the thing your thanking them for was easy or no effort, but rather that this effort wasn’t a major inconvenience for them.

​