extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess
extremely keen to participate in military combat
Introduced as a training slogan in 1942 by U.S. Marine officer Evans F. Carlson (1896–1947), from Chinese gōng hé, the abbreviated name of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, taken by a literal translation as “work together”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The season started with Liverpool looking gung-ho and wide open.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Some were self-assured and gung-ho; some were silent and pensive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
Not all of the younger generation of Robleses is as gung-ho about the family business as their parents are.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
But the opener's gung-ho approach cost him against the pace of Archer who fired down a bouncer and induced a top edge to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
It was weird how responsible he felt for the other two: plaintive, pitiful, confused Chip; naïve, gung-ho, enthusiastic Katherine.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
And because of COVID-19 and changes in the industry, my husband, the one gung ho about moving back, ended up being the one to struggle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Other researchers are less gung ho about such heady prospects.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 10, 2023
He said the ranks include people who are gung ho and supremely fit, but also more ordinary people.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2023
“Consistent with my own push for statehood, of course I was gung ho about giving this authority back to the District,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2021
But voting booths aside, I worried I'd be betraying my Iranian side if I was too gung ho about becoming fully Americanized.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
