hurrah
Americaninterjection
verb (used without object)
noun
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an exclamation of “hurrah.”
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hubbub; commotion; fanfare.
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a colorful or tumultuous event; spectacle or celebration.
We celebrated the centennial with a three-day hurrah.
idioms
interjection
verb
Usage
What does hurrah mean? Hurrah is a word to shout when you want to celebrate something. Hurrah is an interjection, meaning it’s a term used to express emotion, often outside of a sentence. Hurrah is sometimes spelled hoorah. Similar and related words are hooray, hurray, and huzzah. All of these words are used in the same way—as a celebratory exclamation (something to shout in celebration). Hurrah started as something to shout out loud, but today it’s probably pretty rare for people to literally shout “Hurrah!” (It sounds a bit old-timey, and people are more into yelling woo! and woo-hoo!) But hurrah is still often used as an interjection in informal, conversational writing, such as social media posts and texts. To show appreciation for something in particular, you might write hurrah for followed by that thing, as in Hurrah for three-day weekends!Hurrah can be used as a verb meaning to shout hurrah or to celebrate, as in They were hurrahed for their bravery. It can also be used to refer to a cheer of hurrah (as in a big hurrah from the crowd), commotion or fanfare (as in There was much hurrah following the announcement), or a showy spectacle or celebration (as in We’ll have a big hurrah to celebrate). Hurrah is also part of the common phrase last hurrah, meaning a final attempt, competition, performance, success, or celebration before something ends, such as a career. Example: Hurrah! The package I ordered is here!
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hurrah
First recorded in 1680–90; from German hurra
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:
There were 10,000 empty seats that evening, with the band performing for some 25,000 fans who were entirely unaware that they were witnessing The Beatles’ last hurrah before a paying audience.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2026
Outward is ending after eight years, so hosts Bryan Lowder, Christina Cauterucci, and June Thomas reunited for one last hurrah.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
Wendy Sloan was in Amsterdam on Thursday morning and booked an eight-hour flight to New York, fighting zero sleep to be here for Colbert's final hurrah.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Why the artificial-intelligence advertising spree could be the last hurrah — like the dot-coms in 2000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
Now the tally with my wife in backgammon stands thus: she, poor creature, has won only 2490 games, whilst I have won, hurrah, hurrah, 2795 games!
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
It was one of the last hurrahs on Highland Avenue before the fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
Argentina led by eight early, but the hurrahs ended there.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2021
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Oz: “Excitement is building down here in Melbourne,” hurrahs Eastsidescally.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2021
Over the years, he has thrown out the ceremonial first pitch at a Mets game, dined in Manhattan’s finest restaurants and good-naturedly accepted the heckles and hurrahs from the Big Apple’s impassioned horseplayers.
From New York Times ● Jun. 2, 2021
Such were the questions which came from every side, but the shouts and hurrahs were so prolonged and loud that Martin was no longer heard.
From The Cave by the Beech Fork A Story of Kentucky?1815 by Spalding, Henry S.
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.
