rumor
AmericanUsage
What does rumor mean? A rumor is a story or statement that is being passed around without confirmation that the information is true, as in I heard a rumor about a new superhero movie. Rumor can also mean general hearsay, as in You shouldn’t put much faith in rumor and speculation. As a verb, rumor means to spread or report rumors. When used this way, it is usually accompanied by the thing that is a rumor, as in It has been rumored that Disney is building a new amusement park outside the city. While rumor does mean the information hasn’t been checked, it is still possible for it to be true. For this reason, rumor may not always be able to be used as a synonym for words like lie, falsehood, nonsense, or fiction. In British English, rumor is often spelled as rumour. A person who loves spreading rumors is called a rumormonger. Example: My gossipy neighbor loves spreading ridiculous rumors all over town.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rumor
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English rumour, from Middle French, from Latin rūmor; akin to Sanskrit rāuti, rāvati “(he) cries”
Explanation
A rumor is a story which may not be true. Everyone may be talking about the rap superstar who stopped for ice cream in your town, but until there's proof that it really happened, the whole thing is just a rumor. Are rumors ever true? Of course — sometimes word gets out ahead of time, like when a student overhears teachers talking about the early dismissal before it is announced. When the school closes early, the rumor is confirmed. But many other rumors can never be confirmed, so they stay just that, rumors. True, false, semi-true: who knows? The Latin word rumorem, or noise, is the origin; noise is often all that a rumor is.
Vocabulary lists containing rumor
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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.
See Examples For:
His “viral hospital rumor has been debunked,” the account wrote in a post accompanying an article about the debunking.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
By Sunday afternoon, the rumor had acquired its supposed smoking gun.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
Ahead of the first-round vote earlier this month, Bolsonaro fiercely denied a rumor that he planned to demote Brazil's beloved patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida, if elected.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
He had “not even a rumor of a job,” Mr. Quan writes of his late teens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“We heard a rumor that something bad’s headed your way, Ida B.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate from Texas, denied rumors that he had been secretly hospitalized in an Ohio psychiatric facility, calling it "the craziest thing I've ever heard."
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
“As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on rumors and speculation, but we want to be clear we are not buying Chipotle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
By October 2022, rumors were flying that the sisters were fighting over their mother’s will, a claim that Wynonna shot down while speaking with People.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Holland and Zendaya first met when they were cast alongside each other in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and rumors soon began to surface that their on-screen romance may have turned into a real-life love.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The newspapers were flooded with rumors about Morgan.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
