Advanced English Vocabulary Phrases

You guys, have you ever wondered why you can't actually understand native English speakers when you're having a conversation? In today's English video, I'm going to teach you the words that native English speakers like myself actually use instead of just the textbook words that you've learned in a classroom. These words that I'm going to teach you today are very useful. They can help you advance your own vocabulary and just really understand. The meaning of what people are saying in English. Before we get started with this video, I want you guys to take a look at the link below to download the PDF for free that goes along with this lesson so that you can keep studying even after the lesson is over. Now, let's jump right into this English lesson. So, you may have learned the words strong or durable when you were learning English. But oftentimes, native English speakers will use this next phrase, heavy duty. This is heavy duty, doc. This is great. Now, let's say you got yourself a new pair of boots. You could say these boots are very durable. You could say that you will often hear native English speakers using that word durable. It's quite formal. What you'll hear instead is I got a new pair of heavy duty boots. So you could say the boots are heavy-duty or you can just use it as an adjective. Heavy-duty boots. Or you could say I got a heavy-duty jacket. Or you could say wow that is a really heavy-duty pair of pants. Maybe it's a pair of pants that's very thick. That, you know, will protect you if you are working at a construction site or if you're going to a very cold environment. When you get things that are meant to be very durable, which means they can withstand really harsh conditions like ice, snow, they can withstand wind or they could withstand, you know. a child trying to break it you can describe it as heavy duty if you buy something that's very cheap and you think it might break pretty easily you could say be careful that's not very heavy duty which means it could break easily a really formal word in english is acceptable which you will hear from time to time which means occasionally but native english speakers will often just say oh So yeah, that's good enough. Good enough. And you may have wondered, you know, what exactly does that mean? Why are we saying that so much? If someone says something is good enough, it doesn't mean it's actually really good. It doesn't mean it's bad, but it just means it's acceptable. It will pass. Maybe if you were ever in college or university and the teacher says, you know, can anyone tell me the answer to this question? And you raise your hand, you say, yeah, here's the answer. The teacher will say, yeah, that's a good enough answer, but I will explain it a bit more. Meaning your answer was correct, it's acceptable, but I'll go beyond what you just said to give a more thorough explanation. You can describe the quality of something as good enough. I got a car and it's good enough to get me from what we say point A to point B, which means two locations. There's another bonus phrase. For you, if you want to say two locations, you can say point A and point B. So if your car is just good enough, it means it's not a Ferrari. It's not a Corvette. It might not even be a brand new car, but it's reliable. It can get you to where you need to go. It's good enough. Hopefully, when you were about to get married, if you're married, you were not. Thinking about if it was the right decision, even after you committed to getting married. In English, we have a phrase for this. We can say, hopefully you are not having second thoughts. Any second thoughts? So if someone has second thoughts about something, they're reconsidering their decision. Nowadays, it seems like everyone likes to make videos, to post on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, just any sort of social media. And a lot of people... post videos in order to make money like a business. Some people do it just for fun. So the phrase is just for fun. For fun. For fun. Which means it's not serious. It's not official. You're doing it not to win something, just literally to have fun. So maybe your friend says, hey, do you want to play poker, which is a card game, usually gambling involved, and you say, no, I don't really have any money. Your friend might say, well, we could just play for fun. This means we're not playing for money. It's not official. We are just playing to have a game to have fun instead of just saying that something is of high quality. Americans will often say something is top-notch, which means high quality, the best, top-notch. Maybe you've been to a really, really good restaurant that is famous for its food. You could describe that restaurant as top-notch. Or you can just give a compliment to someone trying to say, you know, you kind of make the best food. Say your food is top-notch. Or my teacher is top-notch. You can describe a lot of different things as top-notch if you want to say it is the best or the best quality. If you want to say that something is more relaxed, It's not trying to have a lot of attention or be flashy. You can describe it using the slang phrase in English as low-key. It's very low-key. We're having a party on Friday night but it's not going to be a big deal. It's going to be pretty low-key. When I got married, I had a party after, but it wasn't like a huge expensive wedding. It was very low key. You can just say you're a low key person in general. It just means you're relaxed. You'll hear American English speakers use this phrase all the time. Something is low key. It just means it's relaxed. You know, you don't have to worry about dressing up or anything if something is low key. A really good phrase that means that something is super unusual Eccentric if you know what that word is or just not really the way that people usually do things is you can describe it as off the wall. Sometimes this phrase can also be used not to just say that something is kind of strange but you know it's kind of bad if you're talking about a co-worker you know maybe they had an idea in the meeting and the idea was really bad you're not really sure why they said it you could say that idea was just really off the wall just means It didn't make sense. I don't know why they said it. Off the wall. Now, almost the exact opposite of calling something off the wall is to say that something is very run-of-the-mill. Run-of-the-mill, average worker. So the phrase is run-of-the-mill. It means that something is conventional or ordinary. Or if someone does something that's very run-of-the-mill, it means they do it the way that it's always been done. So this phrase, again, I'll break it apart, run of the mill. It's fun to say very quickly, and I feel like that's how Americans typically use it in a conversation. They say, well, that's really run of the mill. Maybe you went to a movie and you thought it was just an ordinary romantic comedy movie. You could say, well, the script or the story to that movie was pretty run of the mill, meaning ordinary, average, traditional. Oftentimes, instead of just saying something is expensive in English, you'll hear people say it's high-end. High-end does basically mean that something is expensive, but it can also mean luxurious as well. For instance, if you were going to rent apartments in the United States, you can get just a normal apartment or you can get a very high-end apartment, which means it's expensive rent, it's a very nice building, maybe you're buying... Some really expensive shopping stores and things like that. So we use this phrase high-end because I feel like Americans don't necessarily say it's expensive and brag. They'll say, oh, it's very high-end, which means the same as expensive, but without saying, you know, it's worth a lot of money. If you've ever seen someone react to something in a very exaggerated or dramatic way, you can describe their reaction in English as over the top. Sometimes when people are going to propose in the United States, you know, maybe the man is going to say, will you marry me? Sometimes the woman really knows that he is going to propose. It's not a surprise, but. They like to have an over-the-top reaction. Maybe they're crying and they're saying, I can't believe it. I didn't know. This is such a surprise. They're acting very over-the-top. This means just super dramatic. And it's generally a negative thing to say that someone was being over-the-top about something. They can also be, you know, too upset about something, more upset than the situation actually calls for, or, you know, more excited, or they can have a bigger reaction just to be dramatic and gain a lot of attention so if you're describing someone's actions or reactions as over the top you're just saying it's too much an insulting phrase in english to use is to call someone a deadbeat you big deadbeat Oftentimes, if there is a dad that doesn't take care of their children, they're not involved in the child's life, or they're not providing money for the child, people will say as an insult, they are a deadbeat dad. This is extremely insulting. And just in general, if someone is not working, and they are able to work, and you think they're being lazy and unproductive, you could call them a deadbeat. Or you might hear someone call someone else a deadbeat. Be really careful with this phrase. It is super insulting. It's a very bad thing to call someone a deadbeat, but sometimes the situation warrants it and you need to know what it means. A really nice phrase to compliment someone is to say that they are next level. This is next level. So maybe you work with someone and every time they give a presentation their presentation skills are great, their slide deck is really really professional, they take questions from everyone in the room and have really good answers. You could say your speaking skills or your presentation skills are next level. This is just a way to compliment them saying like better than anyone else. You're on the next level of your skills. Or if you have food that is extremely delicious. You could use this phrase as well. You could say, oh, that cookie is next level. Your cooking is next level. This movie was next level. It's just saying something was really extremely good. Another really common way that we say that something Something is very relaxed in the United States. As we can say it is laid back. So just to casually tell someone hey like we're having a party next week it's going to be really laid back or we're just going to hang out later nothing too official we're going to be laid back. This just means nice and relaxed nothing formal. If you want to describe someone who never really gets stressed out you know they're always pretty pleasant and relaxed to be around you could say they're a really laid back person. One phrase that I really like to use to say that something is strong, solid, and reliable is to say, it's rock solid. Our marriage is rock solid. We often say if we have a really good friendship with someone, that their friendship with them is rock solid. They're a rock solid friend. It just means they're very reliable. They never lie. They never do things to hurt you. They're a great friend if you describe them as rock solid. You can also just describe something that's very strong physically, like you could say this table will never break. It is rock solid. Even if it's made of wood, it's not made of rock. You're just using this as an adjective to say strong, rock solid. If you want to say that you are very excited about something, you can say you are hyped for it. A lot of times people are hyped to go to a Taylor Swift concert. They're so excited. It's going to be the best. Best concert of their entire lives. The atmosphere is completely hyped. This just means enthusiastic and very excited. You can think of hyped as almost an abbreviated word for hyper. Again, this is a very slang phrase. You could say, oh, I'm really hyped for Christmas. This means you're very excited for it. You're awaiting the event. If you want to say that someone is lacking decisive decisions, You know, they're always kind of changing their mind, they can't decide on something. You could describe them as wishy-washy. I hate that, so wishy-washy. You might say, oh my boss is so wishy-washy, they can never decide on exactly how they want something done. Or you could even describe weather as wishy-washy. It's cloudy outside, But it hasn't really rained yet, so I'm not really sure what the weather is going to be like today. It's wishy-washy. It's generally pretty negative to call someone wishy-washy. You know, you're saying they can't make up their mind. They can't make a clear decision to help you out. A lot of my English learners ask me what this next phrase means. When we describe something as cheesy, We're generally saying it's tacky and over sentimental. For instance you might post a picture of you and your husband or you and your wife on your Facebook or wherever it might be on social media and you might say oh I love this person so much they mean so much to me sorry for this cheesy post. This just means like you're sharing way too many feelings for social media. Now, cheesy can also mean, you know, it's kind of bad, it doesn't seem sincere, but we can also use cheesy in this way that just says it's too emotional. I like cheesy movies. I like The Notebook, for instance. I think it's good to have a release of emotions while watching movies sometimes. So cheesy? This next word is a little bit outdated, but you definitely will still hear it used from time to time. You can even try it out as well. I wouldn't say it's so outdated where you can't use it. The word is spiffy. Oh, very spiffy. That's a lovely dress. If you want to say that someone looks spiffy, it means they are neatly dressed and they look really nice. You might say, look at these spiffy new shoes I just got. This means you think your shoes are new, they're clean, and you think that they're stylish. So it's a compliment to use this word, spiffy. I definitely feel like I hear British speakers say this word all the time, but you could use it in American English as well. The word is bonkers. It's going to be bonkers. If you said that the crowd went... Bonkers after your favorite soccer team scored. It means everyone went crazy and loud. Bonkers is just a slang word for crazy. You drive me bonkers. This means you drive me crazy. It's a negative phrase. You're very annoying. But again, I feel like British speakers use this a bit more than Americans, but you'll hear it in both English speaking conversation. When I was younger, this word was definitely more popular but people my age will still say this all the time. You can say that something is legit. So legit is slang for legitimate, but we use it in a bit of a different way when we say, oh that's legit. It generally means that something is very good and authentic. The food at that restaurant was legit. This means that it was very good. It was legitimately food. No, it means it was very good food. So usually in English, when someone says that is so legit, it means it's very good. It's a slang word and it's generally not used by much younger people anymore. More people my age and older. Edgy. When you describe something as edgy, it means it's very bold and unconventional, often pushing the boundaries of what's okay, what's acceptable, and what's appropriate. The most common way we describe someone or something as edgy is artwork. So, you know, maybe an artist is trying to make people talk about their artwork, so they'll make something very edgy that almost seems kind of inappropriate even though It's technically maybe not, but it's on the edge of being inappropriate or what people find to not be okay. Edgy. Here's another adjective that's a bit dated, but again, that I use this word once in a while and you'll hear it on American television, movies, you'll hear older people use it for sure. The word is snazzy. Pretty snazzy, eh? If something is stylish or fancy, we can say, oh, those look snazzy. So again, you could take those shoes. Are snazzy. That car that you just bought is really snazzy. It just means it's very stylish. This next term is definitely very negative to describe someone as, so be careful with it, but you need to know what it means. If you describe someone as flaky, it means they are unreliable. Although hopefully not flaky. Everyone has a flaky friend, I swear, I don't know why, it's just the way the world works. The flaky friend that you have will be the type of person that says, you know, they can help you move one weekend. But then an hour before they're supposed to come and help, they call and say, oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my dog had a veterinarian appointment or oh, I'm sorry, my car's not working. And maybe their excuse is. Legitimate, maybe it's a real excuse, but oftentimes they just don't actually help when the time comes, or maybe they'll cancel on you a lot when you're supposed to hang out. So that's what we describe as someone who is flaky. It's important that you know what it means when someone says that something or someone is trashy in English. Well that was trashy. So you can say that something is trashy when it's low quality or inappropriate or you know just kind of bad in general. If you describe a person as trashy maybe they burp a lot and they don't say excuse me or maybe they uh just dress with clothes that are super dirty or saying something inappropriate. That's the way that we use trashy in English. Or if you are at a store and you describe a piece of clothing as trashy, you mean that it looks cheap. It doesn't look very good at all. Quite the opposite of saying that something is trashy is to say that something is bougie. Bougie is an absolute English slang word. It's very fun to get to use. If you're saying something is bougie you can mean that it's pretentious or it's very high class, very fancy. If a restaurant has white tablecloths, candles, you know the waiter and waitresses are dressed up very nicely, the food is very expensive, you could say that restaurant is so bougie. Or if your friend buys a very expensive purse you could say wow that is a bougie purse. You're just implying that it's very high class and fancy. Have you ever heard in English someone say that a person is loaded? This means that the person is very wealthy and rich. And usually we use this in extreme cases. For instance, Warren Buffett is loaded. That means he has a ton of money. If you drive a Ferrari, you must be loaded. Or you have a lot of debt. If you want to say that someone is being super dishonest and you can't really trust them, you can describe them as shady. That Thomas is shady. A lot of times when you're looking for jobs, you'll just apply to anything that looks somewhat appealing. And once in a while, someone will call you back and they'll claim, you know, they have this job for you that seems too good to be true. And you're thinking this seems a little bit shady. It means that it doesn't seem like a real job. It doesn't seem like the person's being honest. Maybe they want you to sell a product that's not a very good product. That would be a super shady job. If you describe a person as shady, It means they are untrustworthy. This next word in English can be perceived as being a little bit inappropriate, so be super careful how you use it. If you describe someone's actions as being ballsy, it means they are very bold. And courageous. Again, be careful when using this word. It's definitely slang. It's definitely a bit inappropriate to say that someone or something was very ballsy. For instance, if you have a coworker and they say to your boss, I think your plan seems like it really isn't going to work. It does not seem like a good plan at all. You could say, wow, that was really ballsy to tell them that, meaning they were being very bold and courageous by standing up to your boss and saying their plan wasn't good. Yes, she's emotional, but ballsy. Let's see. If you would like to learn a slang word that means that something is a bit risky, you can say that a situation is dicey. Marriage is a dicey thing at best. Now we think of dice as being associated with games and often when you play games like card games or casino games, you're gambling. You're rolling the dice to see if you can get the correct number. So think of this and think about you're risking your money. If you're risking something in a situation, you could say a situation is dicey. Maybe you're traveling and you're unsure if you're going to be able to Make a connecting flight. A connecting flight is when you fly to one city, stop in order to fly to your final destination. So you have two different airplane rides. If you're not sure if you're going to be able to run to your flight and connect to your flight, you can say, oh, it's a little bit dicey if we're going to make it on the airplane in time. This just means it's risky. It's uncertain. Kudos to you, which means good job. Because you just advanced your English vocabulary. If you haven't already, make sure you guys are subscribed to my channel because I have tons of English lessons just like this one that will help you advance your vocabulary. And definitely download the pre-PDF that goes right along with this lesson so that you can continue to study even after this video is over. Alright, I'll see you guys in the next lesson on screen. Thanks again for watching, goodbye!