locked in

Meaning

1. Deeply focused on a task, with no distractions.
2. (interjection) A command to concentrate, said to oneself or a group.

“Two exams tomorrow, so I’m locked in for the rest of the night.”

Where it came from

Circulated in sports as a way to describe pre-competition focus, with early online use traced to a 2009 Urban Dictionary entry. Streamers and gamers adopted it for grinding sessions in the early 2020s, and it spread through TikTok in overlapping waves from 2023 to 2025.