vibe en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /vaɪb/
Etymology
Apocopic form of vibration, vibrator, etc.
Meanings
-
(in-plural, informal, often) An atmosphere or aura felt to belong to a person, place or thing.
I like her. I get good vibes from her.
2014 July 7, Pat Simmons, Guilty of Love, Generation Quest Press:I have no problem with nudity. I'm, like, a total nudist. But that's just not my vibe, artistry-wise. A little mystery goes a long way for me.
2022 September 7, Elizabeth Wagmeister, “Can Kelly Clarkson Save Daytime? The Host on Taking Over Ellen’s Spot, Touring Again and Broadway Dreams”, in Variety:As I passed the stables and thanked the caretaker, I sensed nasty vibes. It was time to go.
1998, John Harris, No voice from the hall, John Murray, →ISBN, page 176:Pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes
2025 October 14, “The Fate of Ophelia”, in The Life of a Showgirl, performed by Taylor Swift:OpenAI reportedly gave GPT-4o the system prompt to “match the user’s vibe.”
2025 May 9, Mike Caulfield, “AI Is Not Your Friend”, in The Atlantic:I'll put up a fight, taking out my earrings Don't you know the vibe? Don't you know the feeling? You should spend the night, catch me on your ceiling That's your prize, that's your prize Well
2024, Gracie Abrams, Audrey Hobert, “That's So True”, in The Secret of Us, performed by Gracie Abrams:And I'm here to prove to you / That we can party on the positive side / And pump positive vibes / So come along for the ride
1991, “Good Vibrations”, performed by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch:The couple canceled their night out when they got a bad vibe from the new babysitter.
This place is giving me bad vibes.
2016 May 24, Matt de la Peña, The Hunted, Ember, →ISBN, page 150:
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(informal, plural-normally) Gut feeling, an impression based on intuition instead of solid data.
I guess I was going on vibes alone, and was not thinking about something called common sense. I was completely mesmerized just being in the company of such a beautiful lady.
2009 08, J. B. Carpenter, My Dearest Love: Search for My Soulmate, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 4:But when decision time came, performance metrics won out over vibes. HH [ChatGPT version] was released on Friday, April 25.
2025 November 23, Kashmir Hill, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, “What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:Analysts trot out all sorts of valuation models, but most of the time, they make educated guesses based on vibes and their gut feeling.
2024 May 30, Kyla Scanlon, In This Economy?: How Money and Markets Really Work, Random House, →ISBN:
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(attributive, informal, plural-normally) Gut feeling, an impression based on intuition instead of solid data. ▸ The use of AI to perform a task without expertise, generally without validating the output deeply.
So “vibe cooking” does not mean making it up as I go. It means cooking with enough guidance to stay flexible.
2026 May 6, Bian, “How I work with AI: vibe cooking crème brûlée”, in Master Ginger:
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(informal, qualifier:preceded by the) Something that is good, trendy, pleasant, or atmospheric; a thing or person with a good vibe.
Substack certainly knows this. It tried to raise last year, seeking $75 million to $100 million from investors. But it had revenue of only $9 million in 2021, and a sky-high valuation on relatively little revenue was not the vibe in 2022. The company gave up.
2023 March 28, Elizabeth Lopatto, “How much money do we think Substack lost last year?”, in The Verge:“I didn’t know how to feel. I was a little bit shocked, to be honest,” Brown says. “It was not the vibe, you know what I mean? That’s the way I always describe it. It was not good vibes.”
2023 March 21, Logan Murdock, “Jaylen Brown Is Trying to Find a Balance”, in The Ringer:Once inside, Clayton wasted no time testing his chemistry with the women, kissing Teddi, Kira, Eliza, Cassidy and Rachel. However, not all of his relationships were so easy — Claire announced to the other contestants that her one-on-one time with Clayton was “not the vibe,” noting that he was too nice for her.
2022 January 3, Erin Crabtree, “‘The Bachelor’ Premiere Recap: Clayton Echard Has 1st Rose Rejected as Salley Quits Before Night 1”, in Us Weekly:I’ve noticed my attitude just hasn’t been the vibe lately. Yesterday I totally lost it at a restaurant because my pasta was only 18 C, which is two degrees below normal room temperature—like two degrees! How could they?
2022 October 27, Paloma Torres, quoting Potentially Petty/Hot Person, “Advice Column: Am I becoming hotter or just pettier? Paloma Torres answers the age-old question constantly on everyone's minds”, in The Eyeopener, volume 56, number 7, page 3:
- (colloquial, plural, plural-only) A vibraphone.
- (informal) Vibration.
-
(informal) A vibrator (sex toy).
It was getting harder to keep using the vibrator on her clit while fucking her, so I replaced it with my tongue. My own pussy needed something, so I switched the other vibrator on and worked my clit with it. Really, it took some coordination to keep fucking her with the cucumber, while slurping on her clitoris and rubbing my own with a vibe.
2020, Jessie Harrington, Forbidden Family Secrets - The Rougher Anthology of 150 Explicit Sex Stories (Fiction), Ronnie Butler, page https://books.google.com/books?id=pG7-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1231:It's a great idea to get good at using vibrators both on yourself (if you like them) and on partners. For many women, vibrators are part and parcel of good sex. Sometimes you'll like having unassisted sex for a while and then finish off with a vibrator. Sometimes a vibe can be great to add to penetrative sex.
2016, Allison Moon, “Mapping Your Route: Anatomy & Orgasm”, in Girl Sex 101, 2nd edition, Lunatic Ink, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 117:But there was still the faint sound of her vibrator humming away under the blanket.[…]Her teeth were clenched, and her hair was looking a little wild. Had she been rolling around under there, rocking herself onto her vibe?
2013, Erin McCarthy, chapter 7, in Full Throttle, New York: Berkley Sensation, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 97:[…] a vibe that has a separate control unit connected by a thin cable.
2021, Jaqueline George, Make Love to Your Man: A User Manual, Q-Press Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC:Water and electricity might not mix, but water and battery-powered fun sure do. Whether you are using a vibe alone or with a partner, in the tub or in the shower, the sensation of intense vibration feels especially nice underwater. Although waterproof vibrators can resemble anything from a lipstick to a kitty cat, most have one of four basic designs.
2008, Tamar Love, “Turning On in the Tub”, in The Sensual Bath: Soaking in Pleasure and Passion (Sex/Relationships), Sterling/Ravenous, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 86, column 1:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| vibes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
vibe worker · vibecession · vibist · vibe check · vibeless · vibe working · vibes-based · vibe coding · vibey · vibe coder · vibe politics · your vibe attracts your tribe · vibe shift
Descendants
Synonyms
Translations (62)
ru атмосфе́ра (atmosphere or aura) · mk а́ура (atmosphere or aura) · pt astral (atmosphere or aura) · nl vibraties (vibration) · hi माहौल (atmosphere or aura) · cmn 鐵琴 /铁琴 (short for vibraphone) · fi värähtely (vibration) · es vibra (atmosphere or aura) · fr vibe (atmosphere or aura) · de Vibrator (sex toy) · ru а́ура (atmosphere or aura) · az ab-hava (atmosphere or aura) · nl vibraties (atmosphere or aura) · mk атмосфе́ра (atmosphere or aura) · fi viba (vibration) · ru вибрафо́н (short for vibraphone) · bg вибра́тор (sex toy) · vi cảm giác (atmosphere or aura) · tr ortam (atmosphere or aura) · sk atmosféra (atmosphere or aura) · sh vȉbra (atmosphere or aura) · uk ва́йб (atmosphere or aura) · de Vibration (vibration) · ja 氛囲気 (atmosphere or aura) · mk ви́брафон (short for vibraphone) · it vibrafono (short for vibraphone) · de Schwingung (vibration) · ru вибра́ция (vibration) · fi vibraatio (vibration) · uk а́ура (atmosphere or aura) · tr vibrafon (short for vibraphone) · sv vibb (atmosphere or aura) · fi tuntemus (atmosphere or aura) · it atmosfera (atmosphere or aura) · fr aura (atmosphere or aura) · uk атмосфе́ра (atmosphere or aura) · it vibrazione (vibration) · es onda (atmosphere or aura) · sk vajb (atmosphere or aura) · bg вибра́ция (vibration) · ru вибра́тор (sex toy) · sk aura (atmosphere or aura) · fi vibat (atmosphere or aura) · pt vibração (atmosphere or aura) · de Vibe (atmosphere or aura) · mk вибра́ција (vibration) · ko 분위기 (atmosphere or aura) · cs chvění (vibration) · tr vibrasyon (vibration) · es rollo (atmosphere or aura) · fi vibra (vibration) · ru ва́йб (atmosphere or aura) · az vibe (atmosphere or aura) · eo etoso (atmosphere or aura) · fi fiilis (atmosphere or aura) · cmn 氛圍 /氛围 (atmosphere or aura) · hu rezgés (vibration) · cs vibrafon (short for vibraphone) · fi vibra (short for vibraphone) · mk чу́вство (atmosphere or aura) · sh ви̏бра (atmosphere or aura) · tr titreşme (vibration)