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
-
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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Chomp
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Why We Fly
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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:
Geese had an atypical, if kind of old-fashioned, run on the hype train for a young rock band.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The study’s lead author even went so far as to say that the existing evidence for intermittent fasting doesn’t justify the hype seen on social media.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Anthropic worked to hype up its offering as public markets sank on worries about interest rates and jitters in the technology sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Some appear to confer small benefits, while some come with hype that science doesn’t back up.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
I’ve been hearing great things about Asase since I first entered Asamando, but now that I’ve met her … the hype is real.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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
The fixture hypes itself and its intense rivalry has meant 40,000 tickets have been sold.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024
“We also wanted to create a community that’s full of positivity and hypes each other up! We want to get to know our actual fans,” Fat Joe added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2023
Sails hypes the crowd up with a pregame speech that is straight of a wrestling promo.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 30, 2023
My last quote is a humblebrag for sure, from an email in 2012 where I hyped up the Wild Flag album to him, and he replied:
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
To be sure, Thrive has invested in its share of flops over the years, including the massively hyped Fab e-commerce platform; and Juicero, which sold an overly complicated high-tech countertop juice press.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
The remote site, which spans an area nearly twice the size of Los Angeles, is home to one of the most hyped projects in the energy market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Kimi Antonelli started his Formula 1 career in 2025 hyped as the next generational talent - but did not live up to that billing in his maiden season.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
She was so hyped on espresso when she taped her audition that “I sounded like I was speaking chipmunk” But she didn’t seem too disappointed, especially since her finances are okay now.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
Sports has a fraught history of hyping the next phenom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Executives have been hyping up the launch event.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 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
Larsson's dancers and their choreography have been key to hyping up her audiences on her current world tour, and on Saturday night they had tens of thousands vibing in Sunderland's Herrington Country Park.
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
Before the race, me and everybody else stood on the sidelines, clapping and hyping Ghost and Lu up as they took their marks.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
