humdinger
Americannoun
noun
-
something unusually large
a humdinger of a recession
-
an excellent person or thing
a humdinger of a party
Etymology
Origin of humdinger
First recorded in 1900–05; of uncertain origin; perhaps from hum + ding 1 + -er 1
Explanation
Call something good, call it cool, call it nice, call it excellent, but if you think it is really outstanding, call it a humdinger! Humdinger is a word for a person or thing that is remarkably excellent. Be careful: calling you grandpa's fancy new car "a real humdinger" may make you sound like you're older than he is. Humdinger's got a newsboys-at-the-baseball-game, dawn-of-the-20th-century feel to it. Maybe that's because the word was coined in the 1880s as a combination of hummer and dinger, two words for people or things that are big, strong, powerful, or just awesome. By the early 1900s, humdingers were everywhere, at least according to the salesmen, college boys, and other slang-slingers whose penchant for exaggerated boosterism made humdinger what it is today.
Vocabulary lists containing humdinger
Wayne State Word Warriors Words to Rescue, 2014-2015 Edition
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Hope Was Here
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Spooked
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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.
Early voting began this week in Texas’s humdinger of a Senate primary, where the intrigue is what isn’t happening on the Democratic side.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026
There’s one idea that could really transform this plan and make it a humdinger that most people could support.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 15, 2026
Now this humdinger of a row with Rupert Lowe.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2025
It’s a dazzling and rambunctious crime movie, with a humdinger of an ending.
From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2023
“Ay, hey there! Hoo-wee, I bet dis a humdinger of a lecture if it can get old Jelly Belly out of city hall. Dey ain’t serving food, is dey?”
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
