slang

«slang» in Mova's school dictionary: Very informal words and phrases used in casual talk… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (uncountable; a slang word); verb (slang, slangs, slanged, slanging — UK, informal)

meaning for a pupil

1) Very informal words and phrases used in casual talk, often by a group such as young people, and not used in formal writing. tree →

2) (verb, UK, informal) slanging match: an angry argument with insults. tree →

sense in the lessons

In English lessons pupils learn the difference between slang and standard English. Examples: "cool", "gonna", "arvo" (Australia), "innit" (UK). Slang changes fast and differs between countries. Phrases: slang word, slang term, rhyming slang, slanging match.

examples

• "Cool" is slang for "very good". tree →
• Don't use slang in your essay. tree →
• In Australian slang, "arvo" means afternoon. tree →
• Cockney rhyming slang uses "apples and pears" for stairs. tree →
• My grandad doesn't understand our slang. tree →
• "Quid" is British slang for a pound. tree →
• The neighbours had a slanging match over the fence. tree →
• Real fairies never preach or talk slang. tree →

note

Uncountable: "some slang", "a slang word". Slang is not wrong, just informal: fine with friends, not in tests. Slang money words (buck, quid) still mean real amounts in maths problems.

In the corpora

• In graffiti slang, bombing means spraying lots of tags quickly, usually illegally; it has nothing to do with real bombs.
• "dǎ léi le" means "it's thundering"; in slang "léi rén" means shocking or cringe.
• Slang words follow the ordinary plural rules (arvo, arvos), but school writing uses the standard word (afternoons).
• Slang can give an old word a new meaning.
• In London youth slang «bare» means very or lots of: «That party was bare good».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «slang» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.