an extraordinary success.
His act is a real wow.
excitement, interest, great pleasure, or the like.
a car that will add some wow to your life.
Audio. a slow wavering of pitch in sound recording or reproducing equipment caused by uneven speed of the turntable or the tape.
Scot. and North England Dialect. a howl, wail, bark, whine, or mew.
1890–95; perhaps identical with Scots wow! exclamation of surprise or admiration
1800–10 wow 2 for defs. 2, 3; 1930–35 wow 2 for def. 1; imitative; the audio term is probably an independent formation
When you wow your teacher, you get him really excited about your three paragraph essay. To wow is to impress. If you imagine saying, "Wow!" after tasting your friend's coconut cupcakes, you'll understand exactly what the verb wow means. When the cupcakes make you exclaim like that, they wow you. A wonderful movie will wow you, and your dad's juggling act might also wow you. The word wow is Scottish in origin, an amazed interjection from the 1500's. The verb form came along in American slang much later, in the 1920's.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Correlation doesn’t prove causation, but, wow, the correlation here is striking.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 15, 2026
“I met you 4 years ago today, and wow I could never have dreamt this life up,” Cuoco wrote in the caption of her Instagram post.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
The salt seasons the meat deeply, the acidity tenderizes it, and the garlic-and-dill flavor adds an herb-y depth for a subtle wow factor.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
While Miller says deals could be announced, he expects them to be in nonstrategic areas and small, not intended to wow the market.
From Barron's • May 14, 2026
I raise my eyebrows in a wow to be polite, but hello, who doesn’t know that?
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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.
