A vibe check is a quick, intuitive read of a person’s mood or a situation’s atmosphere: the phrase is used to “invite people to express their present emotional state” (Know Your Meme). It has a second, ironic sense from 2019 memes, in which “vibe check” is a mock threat paired with cartoon violence.
Two Senses
| Sense | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sincere | Checking how someone is feeling, or how a room feels | @umru_’s tweet of March 24, 2019: “vibe check?” |
| Ironic (2019 meme) | A mock “test” enforced with slapstick violence | A comic of a man hitting another with a baseball bat while saying “vibe check” |
Someone or something can pass or fail a vibe check.
Origin
- 2011, Urban Dictionary. Know Your Meme dates the first definition to April 18, 2011, posted by Urban Dictionary user rastabonez and connected to “the way it’s used in hippie subcultures”. The entry on Urban Dictionary itself is dated May 8, 2011, and begins “A process by which a group or individual obtains a subjective assessment”.
- March 24, 2019, the tweet. Twitter user @umru_ tweeted “vibe check?” Know Your Meme cites it as the earliest example of the phrase’s 2019 revival.
- 2019, the violent turn. Later in 2019 the phrase was used in ironic shitposts “paired with a picture showing a violent act”. On September 3, 2019, an artist “posted a comic showing a man hitting another with a baseball bat” captioned “vibe check” (Know Your Meme). Variants in mid-September 2019 paired it with other violent images.
Vibe Check vs. Vibe Shift
The two are often confused. A vibe check reads the mood of a person or moment. A vibe shift “describes a dramatic cultural change that makes current trends feel dated” (Know Your Meme). The phrase went viral with an article in New York Magazine’s The Cut: “On February 16th, 2022, The Cut author Allison P. Davis published” it, and a column three days later said the piece “sent the concept viral this week” (Creators Syndicate). Davis wrote the article; the term came from her source, “a trend (!) forecaster and brand consultant named Sean Monahan”, whom Know Your Meme identifies as the founder of the trendcasting group K-Hole.