Have you ever seen the abbreviation NSFW anywhere? If you’re unfamiliar with the NSFW meaning, you might be surprised to see what it means if you haven’t used it before. Unlike other abbreviations, this is not one that you can afford to get wrong.
NSFW Definition
NSFW = Not Safe For Work
Like many slangy abbreviations, NSFW has a literal and a more figurative definition. NSFW stands for not safe for work, but its usage is more nuanced than that.
NSFW is used as a label for posts on social media and emails, or links to various websites. Those are most likely to contain material that is not safe for work or appropriate to open with children around.
This kind of content is sexually explicit, or content that has explicit cursing (the words that are bleeped out on network television) and nudity.
Tags with NSFW on websites such as Twitter and Tumblr help users filter out this explicit material if they don’t want to see it. Or at least warn them before opening something, so they know people should not open it in a professional setting.
Some companies can automatically filter out this material from their company Wi-Fi, and prevent their workers from seeing it while they are at work.
What does NSFW mean in text?
Unlike some other common abbreviations, nobody uses NSFW in spoken language. You can say that something is not safe for work, but the abbreviation is used for writing and texting.
NSFW Examples
- I thought this video was really good, but it has some NSFW content. So I decided to wait until you got home to show you.
- I wouldn’t recommend opening anything tagged NSFW while you’re at work in case your boss happens to walk by at that time.
- Just so you know, this picture is NSFW. Make sure the kids are outside or something before you open it!
If something is not sexually explicit or does not contain swearing, you can say that it is safe for work, or SFW. If you don’t specify that something is NSFW, the receiver of your message assumes that it is safe.
12 work idioms and expressions ›› 27 work collocations ›› 8 work phrasal verbs
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