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howling success

Idioms  
  1. A tremendous triumph, as in Their first play was a howling success. This colloquial expression employs howling in the sense of “very pronounced” or “glaring,” a usage dating from the mid-1800s.


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.

One month later Danny Kaye became a howling success.

From Time Magazine Archive

But if later evaluation shows that half a dozen of the ideas are potential solutions to the problem, the brainstorm session is considered a howling success.

From Time Magazine Archive

To help Ball with State's paper work, Kennedy named George McGhee, an able administrator who had been less than a howling success as State's Counselor and Policy.

From Time Magazine Archive

Playing a predatory Southern belle, Miss Holm makes a howling success of her movie debut.

From Time Magazine Archive

The thing was, though, there was almost nothing in the twenty-seven volumes about the Dresden raid, even though it had been such a howling success.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut