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:
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
Lazard portfolio manager Bertrand Cliquet says infrastructure companies are worth more than the AI hype sometimes linked to them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Much of the current humanoid hype reflects scripted demos, human-controlled teleoperation, or task-specific automation, rather than real general-purpose autonomy, they note.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 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
Walked around the house totally hype about how much lighter they were, which would definitely help me out on the track.
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
Probably no company hypes the tech-boss-as-hero ethos as unapologetically as Palantir.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
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
In the clip, Madge hypes up her audience and encourages them to “take this ride with me.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2024
As well as singing, the songmaster decides when the song is sung - usually after special victories - and hypes up team-mates by recapping performances of individuals in the match.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2023
Sails hypes the crowd up with a pregame speech that is straight of a wrestling promo.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
Some of it may be hyped news, headline sensationalism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 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
His contest with Gabriel was hyped up before the game but Haaland won that battle hands down.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Treating hyped stocks like toilet paper circa March 2020 is a mistake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
She should have expected as much when Anat had hyped up this party as one that was in fact her people.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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
"Even if you didn't see it publicly, all of them are here for me and hyping me up," she says.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
But his goons are all around him, still hyping the whole situation.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
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.
