the.com/vibe
A feeling you can't justify but will absolutely act on.
means An atmosphere or feeling given off by a person, place, or situation, sensed more than reasoned.
from Short for 'vibration,' pulled from physics into slang in the mid-20th century — the idea that people and places emit a kind of energy you can feel without touching. It simmered in beatnik and surfer talk, got a boost from phrases like 'vibrations' in 1960s pop culture (think 'Good Vibrations'), and 'vibe' eventually broke off as its own word, shedding the science and keeping the hum.
- first recorded
- vibrations slang traced to 1960s counterculture
- shortened form
- vibe became common by the 1970s
- 2022 word of year
- Merriam-Webster noted its surging, vague usage
- linguistic trick
- works as noun, verb, and vibe check