leave someone on read

• read is a past participle here and so pronounced IPA^(key): /ɹɛd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

leave someone on read (third-person singular simple present leaves someone on read, present participle leaving someone on read, simple past and past participle left someone on read)

1. (Internet slang) To read someone's instant message(s) without giving a response, particularly on a platform that lets one see whether a message has been viewed.

   Synonyms: leave someone on seen, bluetick

   My boyfriend left me on read yesterday after I asked him to send me a picture of his dog, which made me very angry!

   • 2018, “I Do”, performed by Cardi B ft. SZA:

     Left a nigga on read 'cause I felt like it

   • 2019, Doja Cat, “Like That”, in Hot Pink:

     I said, do that, do that, baby all night long/ And I'ma turn off all my phones / You know I hate it when I'm left on read / But he make it all up in the bed

   • 2021, Mandy Hale, Don't Believe the Swipe: Finding Love without Losing Yourself‎^[1], Baker Books, →ISBN:

     Usually, when you leave someone on read, it's to send the message that you're upset with them, you're over their nonsense, or you're just not that into them.

   • 2021, Sophie Gonzales, chapter 19, in Perfect on Paper‎^[2], Wednesday Books, →ISBN:

     I'd sent both Ray and Jaz apology messages over the weekend. Ray had responded by blocking me, and Jaz had left me on “read”—not that I blamed either of them.

   • 2021, Katie Jane Gallagher, Unearthly‎^[3], Hidden Bower Press:

     “You've left me on read since one o'clock.” This was true; she'd sent me a long string of increasingly distraught and complicated emojis that I'd flicked away to decipher later. I'm not much for hieroglyphics.