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Synonyms

hot air

American  

noun

Informal.

  1. empty, exaggerated, or pretentious talk or writing.

    His report on the company's progress was just so much hot air.
hot air British  

noun

  1. informal empty and usually boastful talk

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
hot air Idioms  

  1. Empty, exaggerated talk, as in That last speech of his was pure hot air. It is also put as full of hot air, as in Pay no attention to Howard—he's full of hot air. This metaphoric term transfers heated air to vaporous talk. [Late 1800s]

Etymology

Origin of hot air

1835–45 for literal sense

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.

As hot air rises off the desert floor, cooler air pours down from above and funnels between the mountain ranges, sending unpredictable gusts sweeping across the tennis complex.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2026

Find the source of hot air, spot the killer news, and don’t speculate.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

The recent plummet in Bitcoin prices may be a warning of how much hot air is out there.

From Barron's • Nov. 24, 2025

To overcome these limitations, engineers have long relied on nickel-based superalloys for parts that must withstand hot air or combustion gases.

From Science Daily • Oct. 23, 2025

It was a hot air balloon, smashed to bits on the sidewalk twelve stories below.

From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff

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.