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• gung-ho
  gung-ho

  adjective

  wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous.
• gung ho
  gung ho

  adjective

  extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess

gung-ho

American  

[guhng-hoh] / ˈgʌŋˈhoʊ /

adjective

1. wholeheartedly enthusiastic and loyal; eager; zealous.

   a gung-ho military outfit.

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adverb

1. in a successful manner.

   The business is going gung-ho.

gung ho British  

/ ɡʌŋ həʊ /

adjective

1. extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess

2. extremely keen to participate in military combat

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gung-ho Cultural  

1. Extremely enthusiastic or zealous: “He was gung-ho about going on a vacation to the beach.”

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gung ho Idioms  

1. Also, gung-ho. Extremely enthusiastic or dedicated, as in She was gung ho about her new job. This expression was introduced in 1942 as a training slogan for a U.S. Marine battalion, derived from what an American officer thought were Mandarin Chinese words for “work together.” It was actually an abbreviation for the name of Chinese industrial cooperatives.

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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

See Examples For:

gung-ho gung ho

He’s gung-ho about continuing to try to win, again, including next year, subject to whatever next year’s climate looks like.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

The season started with Liverpool looking gung-ho and wide open.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

Mr. Trump, focused on the nuclear program, was presumed to be less gung-ho about addressing the conventional missile threat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 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

We had some gung-ho stationery, the kind with a picture of GIs jumping out of a chopper on it.

From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers

“You’re hard pressed to find a market where developers and investors are gung ho on apartments.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2024

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

One, younger and more gung ho about his job, was determined to check on something he thought was suspicious.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti