Cooked (adjective / modern & UK slang)
(Also heard as: Proper cooked, Man’s cooked, I’m cooked)
Definition:
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Done for, ruined, or facing certain disaster.
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Flat-out exhausted with zero energy left.
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Heavily under the influence after a messy night out.
Pronunciation: /kʊkt/
Where It Comes From: Old idioms like “your goose is cooked” kicked it off centuries ago to mean you were out of luck. Aussie slang kept it alive for years to describe people who’d had too much sun or were completely fried. Around 2022, gaming streams and TikTok picked it up, flipping “let him cook” on its head to mean someone has completely backed themselves into a corner.
How People Actually Use It: You drop it the second you know there’s no way out of a mess. It’s walking into a test having opened zero books, backing your car into a bollard right in front of your dad, or blowing a lead in the 90th minute on FIFA. If things have gone totally sideways and you’re out of options, you’re cooked.
Examples in the Wild:
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“Forgot to submit my coursework before midnight—I’m proper cooked.”
Translation: I missed the deadline and I’m definitely going to fail.
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“The manager caught him napping in the stockroom; he is cooked.”
Translation: He got caught slacking off and he’s about to be sacked.
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“Ran ten miles this morning and my calves are absolutely cooked.”
Translation: My legs are completely dead after that run.
Similar Slang: Done for, Finished, In the mud, Chalked, Screwed, Battered
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