Cooked in slang means doomed or in serious trouble: people say it when they're in a real mess and there's almost no way out. The second meaning is losing badly: We got cooked in the final. You hear it among friends and on social media, and the tone is usually jokingly dramatic: someone might say I'm cooked before an exam they haven't prepared for or after forgetting a birthday.
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I'm / we're cooked; be cooked if…; get cooked (in + game/match)
- The exam is tomorrow and I haven't even opened the textbook, I'm cooked.
- If my mum sees this parking ticket, I'm completely cooked.
- We got absolutely cooked in the final, five goals to nil.
What changed
First versionMy presentation starts in ten minutes and my laptop just died, I'm cooking.
RevisionMy presentation starts in ten minutes and my laptop just died, I'm cooked.
I'm cooking means I'm making food: it describes what you're doing. Being doomed is a situation you've ended up in, and for that you need the form cooked, as in the similar I'm finished.
Slang has a flip side too: let him cook means don't interrupt, he's doing great, and he's cooking means he's on a roll: He's already scored twice, he's cooking tonight. So cooking sounds like success, and cooked like failure. With older people and in IELTS Speaking, say I'm in big trouble or we lost badly; this slang doesn't belong in an essay.
Your turn
I told my boss I was ill, and then he saw my beach photos online. I'm so ___.
Show the answer
cooked — The boss saw beach photos after being told the speaker was ill, so trouble is unavoidable: I'm so cooked. I'm cooking would mean I'm making food or I'm doing great, the exact opposite of what's happening here.
Text a friend about a situation where you or your team got into serious trouble. Use cooked and explain what went wrong.
We're cooked, the client wants the full report tomorrow morning and we haven't even started the charts.
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