Urban Dictionary Blog

Urban Dictionary is back on your phone

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Urban Dictionary belongs on your phone, so we made a new app.

When somebody sends you a word you don't understand, you can search for it quickly. Suggestions appear while you type, and terms inside definitions are linked, so you can follow the definitions to related words.

The Urban Word of the Day is there when you open the app. If a definition is especially useful, or describes a friend a little too accurately, you can save it or send it to them.

The app has no ads to get in your way. If you had the old app, your favorites will come along with you when you update.

The new app is available now on the App Store and Google Play.

The Urban Dictionary Team

Connect Urban Dictionary to your AI assistant

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT

When a word is too new, too niche, or too weird for an AI assistant, it guesses. Now yours can look it up instead.

Everything on Urban Dictionary is written by people. If you use Claude, ChatGPT, or a similar assistant, you can connect it to Urban Dictionary, and when it gets stuck on a word it can look up what real people actually wrote here instead of guessing. It can also pull a few random words or the words of the day.

This won't make your assistant right about everything. It just gives it somewhere real to look.

Setup steps are at mcp.urbandictionary.com. (For the technical folks: it's an MCP server.) It's a beta, so things might change. If something's off, please let us know.

The Urban Dictionary Team

Urban Dictionary’s Next 26 Years 🎉

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In 1999, we started documenting the language that traditional dictionaries ignored. 26 years later, we are doing the same thing, and in the age of AI, it’s even more important.

AI can write a sentence, but it can’t write slang, and it can’t make “fetch” happen. Only you can do that, when you need a new word to describe who you are and how you feel.

ChatGPT can answer “What does this word mean?”, but Urban Dictionary can answer “Does anyone else feel the way I do?”. Every definition makes a connection between someone who felt something and someone else who needed to know they weren’t alone.

In the near future, you can expect more tools for contributors, more features, and stronger community. The next 26 years for us is about protecting authentic human expression.

Thank you to everyone who has defined, voted on and read definitions. You’re helping create an archive of how humans actually speak in the 21st century.

Happy Birthday, Urban Dictionary!

Aaron
CEO

Democracy returns to Urban Dictionary

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Earlier this year, I made a difficult decision to temporarily remove a critical feature Urban Dictionary has had since 1999: voting on definitions.

As the internet changed, our voting system had become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. What worked in 1999 doesn't work in 2025.

When the feature went offline, we heard from many of you: Urban Dictionary's democracy doesn't function without voting. You were right.

One person, one vote

As of election week, voting is back, but it works differently. We've rebuilt the system with modern anti-bot verification to ensure that every up and down vote comes from a real human, not from a machine.

The new voting process is a little slower, but it's worth it to ensure votes are real. The internet is flooded with AI-generated content. Urban Dictionary will continue to choose human authenticity over inflated numbers.

Urban Dictionary has always been about documenting modern language, and responding to the needs of the people who use it. Thank you for caring, noticing that something was missing, and for telling us about it.

Go vote!

Aaron
Urban Dictionary

Introducing Urban Dictionary Promote

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

For 25 years, Urban Dictionary has been the home of modern language. Now, with Urban Dictionary Promote, we're launching a simple way for you to advertise here.

How it works:

Pick any word on Urban Dictionary
Upload your 300x250 ad
Pay a flat rate for that day
You own the first ad space on that word, exclusively.

No confusing pricing or complicated targeting. Just pick a word and go.

We built this for indie brands, creators, and anyone who wants a straightforward way to advertise. Every ad is reviewed by our team.

When you're ready to try it, click here: urbandictionary.biz

❤️ Aaron and the Urban Dictionary Team

Cryptocurrency references to Urban Dictionary

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 12:43:00 GMT

Urban Dictionary is not affiliated with any cryptocurrency, token, or blockchain project.

Recently, we’ve seen “Urban Dictionary” used as a category label for various meme coins and tokens on trading platforms. While we appreciate the role Urban Dictionary plays in internet culture, we do not endorse, support, or participate in any cryptocurrency projects.

We encourage everyone to exercise caution with speculative assets, especially those that reference popular brands or cultural platforms without authorization.

If you see any token claiming an official association with Urban Dictionary, please be aware that it is unauthorized and has no connection to us.

- Urban Dictionary Team

Masking matters

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As a member of the Urban Dictionary team, I am incredibly frustrated and angry at the failure of political leaders to recommend masking to protect the immunocompromised and prevent the spread of long covid.

Masking has been shown to be effective in preventing the spread of covid-19, yet many political leaders continue to ignore the evidence and put people’s well-being at risk. This is unacceptable.

As an online-only web site, it may seem like the issue of covid-19 doesn't directly affect us. However, the reality is that the virus affects us all, whether we are online or offline. The spread of covid-19 can impact the overall health of our community.

Therefore, it is important for us to do our part in preventing the spread of the virus. This means wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks whenever we are in public.

Let's not wait for political leaders to do the right thing. Let's take action and protect ourselves and each other by wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks.

Sincerely,

Aaron Peckham
Urban Dictionary

Update on Content Moderation

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Last year we blogged about Urban Dictionary’s focus on content moderation. We knew that sustaining the unique spirit of Urban Dictionary would require big changes. Here’s what we’ve changed, and what we haven’t changed, so far.

Definitions are no longer moderated by volunteers. Under the old system, a definition was published when a majority of volunteer moderators decided it was worth publishing. We appreciate our volunteer moderators’ work over the years. Over time, this system had become dominated by a loud minority who published abusive definitions and didn’t publish the good stuff.

We updated our public content guidelines, and detailed content guidelines, to clarify what’s okay on Urban Dictionary. Generally, a definition that describes an offensive or violent term is okay, but a definition that endorses or promotes an offensive or violent term is not okay.

We redeveloped our moderation system. Our own moderation team now reviews all newly-submitted and flagged definitions, and rejects definitions that violate our content guidelines. If you see a definition that violates our content guidelines, please flag it, and our moderation team will review it quickly.

This project is ongoing and we welcome your feedback. And if you’d like to join the moderation team, let us know.

Thank you,

Aaron Peckham
Urban Dictionary

Following up

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This summer we posted Rethinking The Dictionary and invited your feedback. To the thousands of users who wrote in, we heard you and we want to address your concerns:

You noted that offensive words can be educational and informative.
You love that Urban Dictionary can be both useful and funny.
You asked us to protect Urban Dictionary's irreverence and authenticity.

A user from New York said:

The world is full of diverse thoughts and languages. Solving "hate" or "abuse" will not be accomplished by selectively deeming slang words to be unacceptable for a dictionary that attempts to keep up with colloquial language as it becomes popular.

A user from Missouri said:

You provide a service that helps people identify and inform themselves [...] While some words are offensive, they NEED to be defined so that people can arm themselves with information and understanding. Children ask parents what bad words mean. Pretending those words don't exist doesn't help them or anyone. Informing them and educating on meanings DOES.

A user from Florida said:

You don't defeat evil by hiding it away, you expose it to the light, because only then can people see how bad it is, and only then can their minds be changed on it.

We agree with you. We know that the real world can be offensive and is full of offensive words. Urban Dictionary is an important tool to understand what those words mean. Knowing an offensive word's meaning can combat inequality and abuse. But there is a difference between using Urban Dictionary to document the meaning of an offensive word and using it to celebrate or endorse an offensive meaning.

We will not ban certain words, and we can't solve hate and abuse in the world (who can, really?). But we will clarify Urban Dictionary's community guidelines and build better tools to enforce them. Our goal is to help users write better definitions, and empower users to flag definitions that do not meet our community guidelines. We hope this will improve the overall health of Urban Dictionary.

A very small number of users are responsible for the abusive content we want to remove. Right now their behavior has an outsized impact on the rest of the site — it harms the community and often silences other voices. We want to change that. But the things you love about Urban Dictionary will not change: the irreverence, creativity and humor will remain. The work we are doing now aims to preserve that.

We want to keep hearing from you and welcome your comments in the form at this link.

Rethinking the Dictionary

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Twenty years ago, I started Urban Dictionary as a place for everyone to share their language. It was intended to subvert the authority of the traditional dictionary and to document our messy, weird, and unpredictable language as it evolved. Every day, regular people add thousands of definitions, making it a living cultural document. Since 1999, our community has written over 12 million definitions. I’m proud that Urban Dictionary has become a source of laughter and an irreplaceable reference made by and for the people.

But, over the years, online discourse has changed, and so have the words we’re receiving.

Like other online platforms we’ve been inundated by hate speech and abusive content targeting women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other vulnerable groups. Hate speech and abusive content online can cause real harm offline. It can also make people feel unsafe to speak up and share their language, silencing entire groups of people. This is not what we want our platform to be for.

Urban Dictionary plays an important role in defining language on the internet and popular culture. To do this right and to earn the role you’ve entrusted us with, we need to make sure our system measures up to our values. The site has always been a place for people to define the messier edges of language, but we can’t allow it to foster hate.

Words matter — it’s kind of our whole thing here — but actions matter more:

We will not allow Urban Dictionary to be a home for hate speech and abusive content. We support the work of Black Lives Matter to dismantle systemic racism. We accept our own responsibility to fight racism and hate, and acknowledge that we have failed to keep abusive content off our site.
We take this work seriously and it is our priority. We are reviewing our core processes on how words are added, reviewed, published and removed. We are investing in technology and human review to better enforce our standards. We’ll post updates on our progress here.
We will change as hate speech changes. No single fix will work forever. Hate speech and abusive content will evolve, and we’re committed to changing our policies to meet it.

As we rethink the dictionary, we want to hear from you. Urban Dictionary is written by you, and we want you to be involved while we decide what is and isn’t acceptable on it. Please share your thoughts in this form. In a few weeks, we’ll share what we’ve learned from your feedback.

Thank you,

Aaron Peckham
Founder & CEO

Why Urban Dictionary Comes In Handy On The Witness Stand

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The use of slang in court proceedings can be tricky, especially in criminal cases where an uncommon slang term used by a witness can make a difference in a case. New York Times tech reporter Leslie Kaufman and law professor Greg Lastowka talk about how judges and lawyers have turned to sites like Urban Dictionary to help define slang terms and the legal implications of the trend.

— Why Urban Dictionary Comes In Handy On The Witness Stand | Talk of the Nation

Courts are increasingly turning to Urban Dictionary to clarify modern slang language

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The site’s been used in cases ranging from a sexual harrassment lawsuit in Tennessee to a financial restitution case in Wisconsin, and it’s a trend that some legal minds don’t see reversing any time soon.

— Courts are increasingly turning to Urban Dictionary to clarify modern slang language | The Verge

Law and Order and Urban Dictionary

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Since conventional dictionaries don’t always include the latest in slang terminology, lawyers and judges are looking to define language in court cases by turning to Urban Dictionary.

— Law and Order and Urban Dictionary - Jen Doll - The Atlantic Wire

Urban Dictionary Finds a Place in the Courtroom

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Slang has always been a challenge for the courts in cases that involve vulgar or insulting language. Conventional dictionaries lag the spoken word by design. That has lawyers and judges turning to a more fluid source of definitions: Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced collection of slang words on the Internet.

— Urban Dictionary Finds a Place in the Courtroom - NYTimes.com

Watson, IBM's supercomputer, memorized Urban Dictionary

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Watson, IBM's supercomputer, memorized Urban Dictionary. Then it was taken away.

Who the Hell Cares if IBM’s Watson Swears? (Slate)

In praise of urban dictionaries

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Once scholars agonised for years over additions to language. Now, online dictionaries enable instant updates

— In praise of urban dictionaries | The Guardian

Street Smart: Urban Dictionary

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Almost perversely, Urban Dictionary avoids most of the standard dictionary apparatus. You won’t find information about parts of speech, etymologies or even standard spellings in it. Its sensibility, in fact, borders on the illiterate, which must be a first for a dictionary.

— Street Smart - Urban Dictionary - NYTimes.com

Urban Dictionary Presents New Challenge For Brand Marketers

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

But times have changed and now the Internet has become a teeming compendium of all the outre things that we are doing to one another. And, as the good people at Proximo Spirits found out to their dismay, before you give your product a name, you’d better check with the Urban Dictionary.

— Urban Dictionary Presents New Challenge For Brand Marketers - Huffington Post