phrasal verb🧩 phrasal verb
calm down
to relax emotionally
What it means
To become less angry, anxious, or excited, or to help someone else relax emotionally. It is used both for yourself and for others.
Words like “calm down” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- Take a deep breath and try to calm down before you reply.
- It took her an hour to calm the baby down after the fall.
- Once the boss calmed down, the meeting actually went well.
- I went for a walk to calm down after the argument.
Where it comes from
Separable when transitive. Telling someone to 'calm down' can sound dismissive in English, so tone of voice matters a lot.
Related phrasal verbs
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