A keyboard warrior is someone who acts tough online but is a coward away from their computer. A keyboard warrior acts tough and aggressive on a forum, social media or in the comments section of a post or video. The term is derogatory. It is meant as an insult. Keyboard warriors are frequently encountered on political sites and in the comments sections of political articles.



The Wiktionary entry for keyboard warrior says it can also be someone who behaves in an inflammatory manner in a discussion forum. It says this type of person does not act aggressively away from the keyboard because they are cowardly, introverted or shy. The Cambridge Dictionary entry says a keyboard warrior is someone "who posts angry messages or likes to get into arguments on the internet."

Many of the Gifs for keyboard warrior on Giphy and Gfycat show people and cartoon characters typing aggressively, looking angry and smashing keyboards. Here's a Gif of Jim Carrey typing aggressively.



Keyboard warriors are often used in memes. Some good places to find keyboard warrior meme images is on Pinterest. Here is the text from a few keyboard warrior memes:

• Bring me a Hot Pocket mom. I'm being a badass on Facebook.
• When I was your age we fought with fists, not caps lock.
• Oh Wow! You really gonna fight me over the Internet? What's the worst you can caps-lock me to death?

An entry on Know Your Meme shows a faux LEGO Keyboard Warrior playset.

The Urban Dictionary has several entries for "keyboard warrior." It says they are often identified by " unnecessary rage in their written communications." That leads us to the term rage typing.

Rage Typing

Terms like rage typing and rage tweeting (the Twitter version) refer to the type of out-of-control angry typing often seen from keyboard warriors. They might get extra angry and start typing angry, confusing sentences in ALL CAPS. If someone is rage typing in a forum or on Twitter there will likely be other people in the community saying "calm down" or "stop using all caps."

Keyboard Warriors and Trolls

Keyboard warriors and trolls both tend to upset people but they are different. A keyboard warrior is not a troll as a Quora entry explains. Trolls make a deliberate effort to upset people in forums and social media. Trolls will say they things they know are not true or that they themselves do not believe in order to upset someone. Keyboard warriors believe what they are writing and are extremely passionate about the topic. It is possible that a troll could masquerade as a keyboard warrior to upset people. Keyboard warriors may also make likely targets for trolls. A troll will be pleased if it can get a keyboard warrior upset enough to start rage typing.

If someone calls you a keyboard warrior you should take a deep breath and think about what you are writing. It is difficult to judge emotions on the Internet and rage typing in all caps like a keyword warrior doesn't help solve anything. You don't win arguments by rage typing in all caps. It certainly won't make you any friends.