Boss
What it means
Excellent or impressively skillful in informal American speech.
Reach for it when giving compact slang praise where the audience knows the usage
Mina played a boss guitar solo during the final encore.
Words to choose between 6
| playful | |
|---|---|
| professional | |
| formal |
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playful
Fits when casual contemporary enthusiasm fits the audience
Careful Awesome is generic and can sound juvenile.
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playful
Fits when skill and forceful confidence combine
Careful Badass can be mildly profane and introduces toughness that boss need not.
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playful
Fits when stylish approval matters more than technical quality
Careful Cool may praise attitude without establishing excellence.
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professional
Fits when clear strong praise should travel across regions
Careful Excellent has none of boss's slang confidence.
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formal
Fits when quality ranks among the best
Careful First-rate sounds evaluative and lacks the friendly slang tone.
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formal
Fits when expert control is the precise reason for praise
Careful Everyday success or a casual object rarely needs masterful's elevated tone.
Opposites 3
- lousy
- weak
- uncool
Common phrases 3
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boss move
Sharing the credit with the apprentices was a boss move.
-
boss performance
The drummer gave a boss performance on borrowed equipment.
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boss idea
A free tool library is a boss idea for the neighborhood.
Usage notes
Keep in mind
The positive adjective boss is regional American slang. Many readers will understand boss only as a noun or verb.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated