fomo

What it means

The anxious feeling that everyone else is having fun or experiencing something great while you're stuck missing out. It's the dread that hits when you scroll past photos of a party you weren't at.

Examples

• I have major fomo seeing everyone's festival pics.
• She booked the trip purely out of fomo.
• My fomo is unreal whenever I skip a night out.
• Don't let fomo trick you into overspending.

Where it comes from

An acronym for 'fear of missing out,' coined in the early 2000s and popularized in a 2004 op-ed. It exploded with the rise of social media, which made everyone's highlight reels constantly visible.

Related slang