hype
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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hypes,
present (3rd person singular)
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hyped,
past participle, past
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hyping
present participle
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to stimulate, excite, or agitate (usually followed byup ).
She was hyped up at the thought of owning her own car.
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to create interest in by flamboyant or dramatic methods; promote or publicize showily.
a promoter who knows how to hype a prizefight.
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to intensify (advertising, promotion, or publicity) by ingenious or questionable claims, methods, etc. (usually followed byup ).
noun
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exaggerated publicity; hoopla.
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an ingenious or questionable claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect.
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a swindle, deception, or trick.
noun
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Disparaging and Offensive. a person who is addicted to a drug, especially one who uses a hypodermic needle.
noun
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a deception or racket
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intensive or exaggerated publicity or sales promotion
media hype
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the person or thing so publicized
verb
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to market or promote (a product) using exaggerated or intensive publicity
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to falsify or rig (something)
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(in the pop-music business) to buy (copies of a particular record) in such quantity as to increase its ratings in the charts
noun
verb
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to inject oneself with a drug
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(tr) to stimulate artificially or excite
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hypesimple
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hypessimple
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have hypedperfect
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has hypedperfect
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am hypingprogressive
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are hypingprogressive
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is hypingprogressive
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have been hypingperfect progressive
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has been hypingperfect progressive
Past
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hypedsimple
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had hypedperfect
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was hypingprogressive
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were hypingprogressive
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had been hypingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hype1
An Americanism dating back to 1820–30, in sense “to trick, swindle,” of uncertain origin; subsequent senses perhaps by reanalysis as a shortening of hyperbole
Origin of hype2
First recorded in 1920–25; shortening of hypodermic; cf. hypo 1
Explanation
As a noun, hype means extravagant claims about a person or product. All the hype about a miraculous new kind of mop might influence you to buy one, but after trying it out you'll realize it's just a mop. Experts speculate that the word hype may be a back formation of hyperbole, or it may come from hyper — old-fashioned slang for a person who swindled someone. As a verb, to hype something is to blatantly promote it. If you hype your favorite restaurant enough, your friends will finally try it. If they all hate it, though, they might never listen to you again!
Vocabulary lists containing hype
The 57 Bus
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Why We Fly
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Chomp
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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:
And if you think they’re hype, or a silly fad, please know:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Unitree Robotics is set to become the first public humanoid-robotics company in mainland China, and it’s riding the robotics hype straight to the bank.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
For others, they are merely another vehicle for tech firms to hype up their powerful models and compete with rivals.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Driven by social media hype and a growing distrust of public health guidance, consumer demand for experimental peptides has exploded over the last decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
By the time he came, I was really keyed up to hear the hype he was going to explain.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
These days, Crews, 57, serves as the host of “America’s Got Talent,” currently in its 21st season, where he hypes up contestants looking to win the approval of judges including Simon Cowell and Sofía Vergara.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
“Nah, that turns me up. That hypes me up.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
Hynes: When you see their huddles, like pregame stuff it just hypes you up, and you're just like, "Yeah, that's a real family."
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2024
The fixture hypes itself and its intense rivalry has meant 40,000 tickets have been sold.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024
Sails hypes the crowd up with a pregame speech that is straight of a wrestling promo.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
The player hyped up as golf’s next big thing for years had fully arrived.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
A US review panel on Thursday recommended loosening restrictions on the much hyped peptide BPC-157, voting that specialized pharmacies be allowed to produce it despite alarm bells from medical experts over safety concerns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Treating hyped stocks like toilet paper circa March 2020 is a mistake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
The 24-year-old tells BBC Newsbeat that screenings have been filled with "hyped" fans, some in cosplay.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026
Aunt J is scrolling through her Facebook feed, hyped about the fact that the number of counterprotesters has grown.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
After my story ran, Davis emailed me and said he’d enjoyed the piece, which had a couple of lines about Davis’ tendency to go overboard hyping his projects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
As it is, he’s spending his time hyping this deal as the conclusion of a narrative that casts him as a big hero.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
They said the focus likely will be on companies hyping AI businesses without having actual technology advantages, using overseas operations to skirt domestic regulations, or flouting Beijing’s orders against price wars.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
James Bullard, a former St. Louis Fed president, put it more bluntly: Adoption won’t happen “as fast as Silicon Valley would like it. Those guys are hyping their IPOs.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026
We were encouraging each other, hyping ourselves up.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
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.
