blow off steam

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

to release or express pent-up emotions or energy

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

giải phóng hoặc thể hiện cảm xúc hoặc năng lượng tích tụ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: release steam as a safety valve
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

After a long week, he likes to blow off steam by playing sports

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “blow off steam” mean?

to release or express pent-up emotions or energy Literally: release steam as a safety valve

Is “blow off steam” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.