hype

[hahyp]Informal.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hype ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), hyped, hyp·ing.

to stimulate, excite, or agitate (usually followed by up): She was hyped up at the thought of owning her own car.

to create interest in by flamboyant or dramatic methods; promote or publicize showily: a promoter who knows how to hype a prizefight.

to intensify (advertising, promotion, or publicity) by ingenious or questionable claims, methods, etc. (usually followed by up).

to trick; gull.

noun

exaggerated publicity; hoopla.

an ingenious or questionable claim, method, etc., used in advertising, promotion, or publicity to intensify the effect.

a swindle, deception, or trick.

Origin of hype

1925–30, Americanism; in sense “to trick, swindle,” of uncertain origin; subsequent senses perhaps by reanalysis as a shortening of hyperbole

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for hyping

urge, request, push, persuade, solicit, press, promote, sway, politick, reinforce, boost, support, back, cooperate, benefit, sustain, aid, facilitate, expedite, overrate

Examples from the Web for hyping

Contemporary Examples of hyping

There are a lot of remarkable things to explain, instead of hyping up a fear which is not well-grounded.
Sanjay Gupta, on the Ebola Front Lines
Tim Teeman
August 4, 2014
In most battles, the rounds focus on battlers tearing each other down or hyping their own mastery of battle skills.
America’s Poets: Battle Rap Gets Real
Rich Goldstein
July 15, 2014
The industry itself is its own Flavor Flav, hyping us up for these yearly achievements.
Volkswagen’s Super Bowl Ad an Unfunny Slight to Culture
Pia Glenn
January 31, 2013
From President Obama on down, everyone is hyping innovation these days.
Tweet if You Love #Innovation
Frank Moss
July 21, 2011

Historical Examples of hyping

In the ring, he excelled greatly at hyping, and if this chanced to miss, generally followed up with the "ham."
Wrestling and Wrestlers:
Jacob Robinson

British Dictionary definitions for hyping

hype

noun

a hypodermic needle or injection

verb

(intr usually foll by up) to inject oneself with a drug

(tr) to stimulate artificially or excite

Word Origin for hype

C20: shortened from hypodermic

hype

noun

a deception or racket

intensive or exaggerated publicity or sales promotionmedia hype

the person or thing so publicized

verb (tr)

to market or promote (a product) using exaggerated or intensive publicity

to falsify or rig (something)

(in the pop-music business) to buy (copies of a particular record) in such quantity as to increase its ratings in the charts

Derived Formshyper, nounhyping, noun

Word Origin for hype

C20: of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hyping

hype

"excessive or misleading publicity or advertising," 1967, American English (the verb is attested from 1937), probably in part a back-formation of hyperbole, but also from underworld slang sense "swindle by overcharging or short-changing" (1926), a back-formation of hyper "short-change con man" (1914), from prefix hyper- meaning "over, to excess." Also possibly influenced by drug addicts' slang hype, 1913 shortening of hypodermic needle. Related: Hyped; hyping. In early 18c., hyp "morbid depression of the spirits" was colloquial for hypochondria (usually as the hyp or the hyps).