big divorce energy en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Coined as a play on big dick energy (“unassuming self-confidence”).
Meanings
-
(derogatory, often, slang, uncountable) A psychological state stereotypically characteristic of a recently-divorced person.
The longer you stare at an image like that one — and I don’t recommend it — the clearer this paradox becomes. It’s not that Bezos seems like an odd, wealthy bachelor who would never get hitched; it’s that for a couple of years now, he’s exuded what can only be termed “Big Divorce Energy.” It’s confusing to find out he’s headed for splitsville when he strikes you as a dude who already has the first marriage in his rearview mirror. The updated clothes, the clean-shaven dome, the ripped revenge bod: “powerful divorced guy vibes,” as the Outline‘s Brandy Jensen put it.
2019 January 10, Miles Klee, “2019 Will Be The Year Of Big Divorce Energy”, in Mel Magazine:According to one person, Brady’s photo was giving off “big divorce energy,” while another person said: “One of the most divorced men of all time.”
2023 February 6, Chelsea Ritschel, “Tom Brady divides fans after posting shirtless mirror selfie in his boxers to complete bet: ‘Get a job’”, in The Independent:Alvita, played with big divorce energy by an intoxicating Clare Perkins, swaggers around in a tight scarlet dress that – to use a phrase of my mother’s – she “falls out of” carefreely. Her voice is gravelly and feels like it could go at any moment, but not before she gives her husbands an earful, summoning each one for a bit of public humiliation. One is outed as a non-starter in the sheets, another as a fan of Jordan Peterson. Eek. The message is one of sex-positivity: Alvita has no time for “slut shamers” and “uptight churchy men” (Chaucer’s sermonising priests). She wants power and bodily autonomy; she wants – quite explicitly – to be satisfied.
2021 November 22, Katherine Cowles, “Zadie Smith’s stage debut is a filthy, feminist reworking of Chaucer”, in New Statesman: