hokey

American  

[hoh-kee] / ˈhoʊ ki /

adjective

hokier, hokiest

1. overly sentimental; mawkish.

   Two glasses of wine and he gets unbearably hokey; it's hard to believe he's a highly paid executive!

   Synonyms:

   mushy, goopy, cloying, melodramatic, maudlin, corny

2. obviously contrived, especially to win popular appeal or support; phony.

   The hokey stories of his impoverished childhood always surface at election time.

   Synonyms:

   spurious, sham, counterfeit, artificial, false, fake

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hokey British  

/ ˈhəʊkɪ /

adjective

1. corny; sentimental

2. contrived; phoney

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Other Word Forms

• hokeyness
  noun
• hokiness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of hokey

First recorded in 1945–50; hok(um) + -y ¹

Explanation

Something that's hokey is silly and sentimental — you could also call it "sappy" or "mawkish." A hokey speech is more likely to make people roll their eyes and squirm than to make them cry. You can buy your friend a hokey birthday card as a joke, or read her a hokey poem to make her laugh. There's a hint of insincerity when something's hokey — people can tell that the sentiments in your hokey yearbook quote aren't entirely genuine. In the mid-1800s, hokey-pokey was defined as "false, cheap material," possibly based on hocus-pocus, and usually referring to artificial flavoring in cheap ice cream. Today, the hokey-pokey is mainly known as a silly dance.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hokey hokier hokiest

The song would only become even more synonymous with the president in 2022, when his hokey dance often done to the classic became so viral that athletes around the world began imitating it.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

It may be a hokey child’s trophy from a bygone era, like a scout’s badge or sportsmanship ribbon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026

By the end of the week the bond markets were more than nervous as a result of the hokey cokey over income tax.

From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2025

What doesn’t is the hokey scene set in a Homegoods store where apparently small children with big designer dreams practice elaborate tablescaping.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2024

“I’ll just put these boxes in the backseat,” he offered, and I could tell by his hokey voice that he was laughing at me himself.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

As with Disneyland, the Trader Joe’s version of “acting” tends to be a bit hokier and altogether more crass than the Hollywood version.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2016

Peña is more limited by the script, but together they bring a dignity to their roles that tempers some of the hokier plot points.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2014

Dichen Lachman plays a dinosaur smuggler who, in a baffling reprisal of “Fallen Kingdom’s” hokiest conceit, wields a laser pointer that commands dinos to attack its targets.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022

“Manifest,” alas, beelines thoughtlessly toward its hokiest idea, when some of the returning passengers discover they’ve acquired psychic powers.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 23, 2018

“We were fearful people would say it was the hokiest thing they ever saw,” Prieb said.

From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2011

In fact, they are the hokiest team in baseball.

From Time Magazine Archive