goblin mode

Goblin mode is a state of being unapologetically lazy, messy or self-indulgent, ignoring all the usual expectations to be productive or presentable. Eating cereal in bed at 2 p.m. in yesterday’s hoodie, phone in hand: goblin mode.

What goblin mode means

Oxford defines it as slang for behavior that is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms. The key word is unapologetic. Going goblin mode isn’t just being tired. It’s choosing, cheerfully, not to care for a while.

Dictionary.com notes it usually describes a temporary state, a weekend or an evening, and that people mostly use it about themselves as a joke. Nobody is “a goblin mode person.” They just enter it occasionally.

Examples

• “Cancelled my plans. Full goblin mode until Monday.”
• “Goblin mode is eating shredded cheese straight from the bag.”
• “I went into goblin mode during exams and only came out for snacks.”

Where it came from

The phrase is older than its fame. Oxford says it was first seen on Twitter in 2009, and Dictionary.com’s earliest example is a tweet from February of that year. It went viral in February 2022 thanks to a fake headline claiming Kanye West and Julia Fox had split because he didn’t like it when she “went goblin mode.” Fox never said it, but the phrase stuck.

It spread on TikTok that year, often as a reaction against polished self-improvement content and the idealized calm of trends like cottagecore.

Oxford’s Word of the Year

In 2022, Oxford put its Word of the Year to a public vote, and goblin mode won in a landslide: 318,956 votes, or about 93% of the total, according to Smithsonian magazine. The runners-up, “metaverse” and “#IStandWith,” trailed far behind.

Related terms

• Bed rotting: spending the day in bed on purpose.
• Goblincore: an aesthetic of moss, mushrooms and found treasures.
• Brain rot: Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year.
• Girl dinner: a low-effort snack plate meal.

See more terms like this in our TikTok slang guide.