Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary: A Crowdsourced Slang Dictionary

A crowdsourced online dictionary focused on slang words, phrases, and meanings, allowing users to define the meanings of words and phrases not typically found in standard dictionaries.

What is Urban Dictionary?

Urban Dictionary is an online dictionary focused on defining slang words, phrases, acronyms, and meanings that are not typically found in standard dictionaries. It relies on user contributions to build up definitions of the latest cultural and youth trends.

The site was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham when he was a freshman computer science major at California Polytechnic State University. Frustrated with the lack of comprehensive online slang dictionaries, Peckham decided to create his own. The site quickly took off in popularity.

Today, Urban Dictionary has over 7 million definitions and averages over 2.5 million visitors per day. Anyone can submit a new definition or edit an existing one, although moderators review submissions before they go live on the site. This crowdsourcing approach allows Urban Dictionary to document popular slang almost in real-time.

While informal and humorous, Urban Dictionary provides valuable insight into ever-evolving youth culture and slang. However, the open-submission model also means inaccurate, offensive, or joke definitions sometimes make their way onto the site before being removed by moderators.

Urban Dictionary Features

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