What It Means When Someone Says 'Big Mood'
All of life's situations can be a 'big mood.'
Popular Logos, Canva Layouts, logosandbrands, SHOTPRIME via Canva On the surface, the internet slang term "big mood" might seem like another confusing bit of internet phraseology to have to pretend to understand until the denizens of social media decide that the time has come to move on to yet another favored meme.
But as internet-speak goes, "big mood" is actually one of the easier-to-understand pieces of hip verbiage you're likely to encounter when you roam places like Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat.
What does "big mood" mean?
The top definition on Urban Dictionary dates back to February 4, 2017, when "big mood" was defined as "relatable, said in response to something that you agree with."
The term is also used often on social media "with a joking, judgmental, cheerful, or ironic tone in reaction and in response to content that is variously seen as quirky, genuine, dramatic, or ridiculous."
Big Mood Origins
The first known use of the term is believed to be contained within the lyrics of The Deftones 1997 song, "My Own Summer(Shove It)":
"Hey you, big mood / Guide me to shelter
'Cause I'm through when the two / Hits the six and it's summer"
The term gained popularity on social media starting sometime around 2015 as an evolution of the term "mood," commonly used to mean "relatable" at the time by Black Twitter — the virtual community/network of African American Twitter users.
"Big mood" continued gaining traction over the next few years as it was seen increasingly in use on Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, and soon every social network you can think of.
What does it mean when a person is 'a mood' or when someone says you're 'a whole mood'?
Being called a "mood" typically isn't a bad thing. When you are called a mood, it means that a person strongly relates to what you are feeling, the way you are acting, or the things you are saying.
Being called "a whole mood" is the same, but even more relatable.
Mood, big mood, and whole mood can be seen as different levels for expressing your overwhelming feelings of relating to someone or what they stand for.
Mood = kinda relates to you.
Big Mood = really relates to you.
A Whole Mood = definitely relates to you and is probably doing the exact same thing.
To make it clear you've been overpowered by countless feels, simply add the word "big" to it, and, thus, you now have a "big mood."
What's great about "big mood" is that it can be used not just to let people know when you have a proverbial case of the Mondays, but it can also be used to describe cravings. A psychedelic rotating pizza pie GIF? That's a big mood to someone with a hunger for pizza that just can't be tamed.
Now that you know what "big mood" means, let's check out its uses in action.
Examples of How to Use Big Mood in Conversations or Texts
Using big mood in a conversation or through text messaging is pretty easy.
1. If someone describes a situation you relate to, you can just reply with those two words.
Them: "I want to go back to kindergarten where you didn't get in trouble for napping."
You: "Big mood."
2. You can use 'big mood' to make a blanket statement.
"Biggest mood of the year: disappointed but not surprised."
3. You can use 'big mood' as a short and simple descriptor.
"The Grinch is a big mood."
To explain the use of this phrase further, we've collected the best tweets and memes that showcase what it means to be a "big mood."
10 Big Mood Memes & Tweets About Being A Whole Mood
1. If you're a 'big mood,' you've got all the swagger.
2. This guy gets it.
3. This cat also gets it.
4. When you've had quite the week.
5. Lest we forget, a very Musk-y mood...
6. Being in an 'Ed, Edd, and Eddy' mood is too relatable.
7. Don't we all?
8. Can't stop me.
9. We are all the panda.
10. Your dog comes first.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a freelance writer and the former Senior Editor of Pop Culture at Newsweek with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, and true crime.