Browse all

chill out

A2 informal intransitive
In simple words

Calm down and take it easy — stop being so stressed, worried, or angry.

Literal meaning: To cool something down by temperature — the metaphor extends to 'cooling' one's emotions or energy.

Meanings

1 A2 informal

To relax and stop feeling stressed, anxious, or tense.

"After the busy work week, all I wanted to do was chill out on the sofa."

"Just chill out and have a good time."

Grammar: inseparable
2 A2 idiomatic informal

To stop being angry or overreacting; to calm down emotionally.

"Chill out — it was just a joke, nobody meant any harm."

"Chill out, man. It's not that serious."

Grammar: inseparable
3 A2 informal

To spend time relaxing and doing nothing in particular, often with others.

"We didn't make any plans — we just chilled out at Marcus's place all afternoon."

Grammar: inseparable
Usage notes

Extremely common in everyday spoken English worldwide. Can be used as an imperative ('Chill out!') or descriptively ('We just chilled out at home'). In some contexts simply means hanging out without any strong emotion. Also shortened to just 'chill.'

Commonly used with

weekend sofa friends music home evening

Forms

Base
chill out
I/you/we/they
3rd person
chills out
he/she/it
Past simple
chilled out
yesterday
Past participle
chilled out
have + pp
-ing form
chilling out
continuous

Understand "chill out" better

Try:

Real video examples

Video examples are being collected. Check back soon.

Synonyms

relax calm down unwind kick back take it easy decompress

Want to master this phrasal verb?

Practice "chill out" on Looplines