hurrah
Americaninterjection
verb (used without object)
noun
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hurrahs
plural
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an exclamation of “hurrah.”
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hubbub; commotion; fanfare.
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a colorful or tumultuous event; spectacle or celebration.
We celebrated the centennial with a three-day hurrah.
idioms
interjection
verb
Usage
What does hurrah mean? Hurrah is a word to shout when you want to celebrate something. Hurrah is an interjection, meaning it’s a term used to express emotion, often outside of a sentence. Hurrah is sometimes spelled hoorah. Similar and related words are hooray, hurray, and huzzah. All of these words are used in the same way—as a celebratory exclamation (something to shout in celebration). Hurrah started as something to shout out loud, but today it’s probably pretty rare for people to literally shout “Hurrah!” (It sounds a bit old-timey, and people are more into yelling woo! and woo-hoo!) But hurrah is still often used as an interjection in informal, conversational writing, such as social media posts and texts. To show appreciation for something in particular, you might write hurrah for followed by that thing, as in Hurrah for three-day weekends!Hurrah can be used as a verb meaning to shout hurrah or to celebrate, as in They were hurrahed for their bravery. It can also be used to refer to a cheer of hurrah (as in a big hurrah from the crowd), commotion or fanfare (as in There was much hurrah following the announcement), or a showy spectacle or celebration (as in We’ll have a big hurrah to celebrate). Hurrah is also part of the common phrase last hurrah, meaning a final attempt, competition, performance, success, or celebration before something ends, such as a career. Example: Hurrah! The package I ordered is here!
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hurrah
First recorded in 1680–90; from German hurra
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There were 10,000 empty seats that evening, with the band performing for some 25,000 fans who were entirely unaware that they were witnessing The Beatles’ last hurrah before a paying audience.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Outward is ending after eight years, so hosts Bryan Lowder, Christina Cauterucci, and June Thomas reunited for one last hurrah.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Technical indicators paint a picture that’s similar to tech’s last hurrah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Imagine if, in “Evita,” audiences members were invited to sing back up on the balcony as Eva Perón belts out “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” accompanying her in her last manipulative hurrah.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
It became an instant classic, but Turandot was to be a last hurrah.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
The awards show’s 99th and 100th iterations will be its last hurrahs with longtime distributor ABC before a move to YouTube.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
It’s impossible to listen to the joyful hurrahs in response to the judge’s order and not think about the residents of one Shanghai community.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2022
The baseball championship was one of their last hurrahs.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 5, 2021
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Oz: “Excitement is building down here in Melbourne,” hurrahs Eastsidescally.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2021
After the song and dance it is time for the inn to close, but at this moment shouts and hurrahs are heard from without.
From Stars of the Opera by Mabel Wagnalls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
