extremely enthusiastic and enterprising, sometimes to excess
extremely keen to participate in military combat
Introduced as a training slogan in 1942 by U.S. Marine officer Evans F. Carlson (1896–1947), from Chinese gōng hé, the abbreviated name of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, taken by a literal translation as “work together”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They said they believed "a lot of people are going gung-ho into this war without any thought".
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
Isabelle Bousquette: Three years into the AI boom, it seems like corporate America is more gung-ho on this than ever.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
Not all of the younger generation of Robleses is as gung-ho about the family business as their parents are.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
But the opener's gung-ho approach cost him against the pace of Archer who fired down a bouncer and induced a top edge to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
My mother was quiet at last, dabbing her nose with Kleenex while the minister talked: “I can just see her now, wowing the angels with her Chinese cooking and gung-ho attitude.”
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
And because of COVID-19 and changes in the industry, my husband, the one gung ho about moving back, ended up being the one to struggle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
Other researchers are less gung ho about such heady prospects.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 10, 2023
He said the ranks include people who are gung ho and supremely fit, but also more ordinary people.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2023
“Consistent with my own push for statehood, of course I was gung ho about giving this authority back to the District,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2021
“I just wish you weren’t so gung ho about it. If I didn’t know you better, I’d say there was some human blood in you.”
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
