vibe check

English

Noun

vibe check (plural vibe checks)

1. (slang) An impromptu attempt to ascertain mood, opinions, or attributes.
   • 2019, "Booyahs", The Sailors' Log (Mona Shores High School, Norton Shores, Michigan), 19 December 2019, page 4:

     The Honey BBQ wings tasted a little off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I know they didn't pass the vibe check.

   • 2020, Emma Sophia Valles, "Going Big With Tiny Meat Gang", Poptized Magazine, Winter 2020, page 48:

     Usually we'll listen to a track. It just depends. Sometimes they have a funny premise or a certain vibe and we'll make something oriented towards that premise or vibe. If it passes the vibe check, we kick things off.

   • 2020, Liam Armstrong-Carrigan, "Where is Australia's best nightlife", Honi Soit (University of Sydney), Semester 1, Week 5 (2020), page 16:

     Melbourne does make having a good time easier, but the reason it passes the vibe check is because of the people that I've shared these perfect nights with, little slices of time that felt so perfect I felt nostalgic about them as I lived them.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:vibe check.

Verb

vibe check (third-person singular simple present vibe checks, present participle vibe checking, simple past and past participle vibe checked)

1. (slang, transitive) To perform a vibe check on (somebody).
   • 2016, Mitch Gilliam, “A shining, bald duck”, in The Tulsa Voice, 5 October - 18 October 2016, page 30:

     He was still recovering from the Blue Whale Comedy festival, during which he spent two days running between venues, setting up chairs, grabbing cash boxes for volunteers, performing sound checks, and vibe-checking national comedians he had booked.

   • 2019, Noel Miller, quoted in Kayvan Aflaki, "Climate crisis moves students to strike for change", The Medium (University of Toronto - Mississauga), 30 September 2019, page 1:

     “We've got to vibe-check leaders on the planet,” said one student in the group.

   • 2019, anonymous, quoted in "Free For All", The University Daily Kansan (University of Kansas), 24 October 2019, page 9:

     thought about vibe checking god by just straight up dying.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:vibe check.

See also

• vibe shift