Slang dictionary
good vibes
or good vibrations [ good vahybz ]
șÚÁÏÍű does good vibes mean?
Good vibes is a slang phrase for the positive feelings given off by a person, place, or situation.
Where does good vibes come from?
One early instance of good vibrations used in a metaphysical sense for âpositive energyâ occurs in Frank Earl Ormsbyâs astrology 1893 text The Law and the Prophets. Ormsby describes the various vibrations supposedly emitted by bodies celestial and earthly. The phrase good vibrations was popularized, however, by the rock band The Beach Boys in their 1966 hit single âGood Vibrations.â Songwriter and Beach Boy Brian Wilson said he took lyrical inspiration from stories his mother would tell about picking up different vibes from different people.
Wilson also apparently wanted to title the track âGood Vibes,â but was convinced otherwise on the grounds that vibesâthe slang abbreviation for vibrationsâwas considered too trendy. Good vibes, however, took root in the popular lexicon as a fun, welcoming, happy, and harmonious atmosphere. A 1967 account of the famed Monterey Pop Festival was described as âproducing nothing but good vibes.â In subsequent decades, vibes spread more generally as a slang term for oneâs intuition about a person (e.g,. He gives me a bad vibe) or a personâs personality or style (e.g., I like his denim vibe).
MemesHappen
Good vibes saw wide and varied usage in pop culture during the 2000s and 2010s, from an animated TV show about surf culture in 2011 to a music festival founded in 2013. Popular Dutch electronic dance music (EDM) artist Quintino released a song titled âGood Vibesâ in 2017.
Examples of good vibes
Who uses good vibes?
Outside of hippies, good vibes is associated, and to some extent used by, people who are part of New Age, surf, and bohemian culture. Popular media often uses the phrase in reference to these subcultures (e.g., travel-writing about a great surfing beach to soak up the vibes).
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Good vibes also enjoys wide use in colloquial speech and digital communication to express positive feelings or hope from a person or environment. The phrase is often used in verbal constructions like: give off/emit good vibes, get/pick up good vibes, has good vibes, send good vibes my/this way, or simply itâs good vibes. One can also speak of a singular good vibe (e.g., I got a good vibe about the company in my interview). Bad vibes is a common negative counterpart.
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Motivational graphics memes as well as clothing and merchandise feature the phrase good vibes, and the hashtags â#goodvibesâ and â#goodvibesonlyâ (i.e., negative attitudes are not welcome) are popular on social media.
Users of dating app Tinder frequently use good vibes on their profiles to show a laid-back, no-nonsense attitude to dating. They may also post âgood vibes onlyâ to express a desire for easy-going people.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of good vibes like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of good vibes that will help our users expand their word mastery.