world record
/ˈwɜːrld ˈrɛkərd/
CommonThe fastest verified time for completing a game or category, recognized by the community as the current best.
In speedrunning, 'the WR' refers to the leaderboard record, not Guinness. Runners chase the WR. Setting one is a major milestone.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | he got WR by 2 seconds. chat completely lost it | The runner beat the previous best time by 2 seconds, causing a major reaction from viewers. | twitch, 2024 |
| 02 | WR just got cut again. third time this week | The fastest time for a game has been beaten again, already for the third time recently. | |
| 03 | she was on WR pace until the last level. still a pb though | The run was fast enough to beat the record until a late mistake, but was still her best personal time. | youtube, 2023 |
| 04 | this man holds the WR for most bad takes in a single tweet | Joking that someone said something so wrong it is historically notable. | x, 2024 |
Use it when
- Referring to the fastest time on a speedrun leaderboard.
- Describing the best performance anyone has ever done at something.
- Hyperbole for something being at an extreme.
Do not use it when
- You mean a personal best, which is only the best for that individual.Use “pb” instead.
Variations and related forms
World record vs PB
world record
World record is the fastest time anyone in the world has achieved.
VS
pb
PB (personal best) is the fastest time a specific person has achieved.
Origin and context
The term predates speedrunning but was adopted by the community to describe the top entry on a game's leaderboard. Tracking of speedrun world records became formalized through speedrun.com.
- First seen
- pre-internet
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/world-recordUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0