gung-ho
adjective
wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous.
gung-ho
American
[guhng-hoh]
/ ˈgʌŋˈhoʊ /
adjective
adverb
gung ho
British
/ ɡʌŋ həʊ /
adjective
-
extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess
-
extremely keen to participate in military combat
gung-ho
Cultural
gung ho
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of gung-ho
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”
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:
Some were self-assured and gung-ho; some were silent and pensive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
SINGAPORE—After a year of gung-ho news about China’s gains in artificial intelligence, some elite Chinese AI researchers are coming to a more pessimistic conclusion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
This is one of the reasons U.S. corn farmers were so gung-ho on ethanol when it was introduced in the 2000s: It was a new use case for their product in a saturated commodity market.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
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
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
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
Other researchers are less gung ho about such heady prospects.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 10, 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
If investors were feeling gung ho, they’d likely be piling into areas of the market closely tied to the strength of the economy, which are known as “cyclical” stocks.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2019
I didn’t feel really gung ho or anything, but I was ready to do my part.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
