name-drop
Americanverb (used without object)
Etymology
Origin of name-drop
First recorded in 1950–55
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:
One of her dogs is named Crüe, as in Mötley Crüe; she will name-drop the 2000s rock band Nickelback in one interview and country stalwart Ronnie Milsap in the next.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Trump went on to name-drop Combs, using one of his former stage names.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
As she buzzes through their home, Bertha and her decorator blithely name-drop the provenance of chandeliers, rugs and paintings.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2025
Of course, being a journalist, Avlon couldn’t help but name-drop other journalists he’d been reading.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2024
Thomas’s high school coach, Gene Pingatore, is still basking in that glory and is happy to name-drop “Isiah.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
Taylor Swift also name-dropped the poet in her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
But the comic, who routinely jokes about her own cosmetic work, didn’t spare herself as she name-dropped nominated films, saying, “Just like Frankenstein, I’ve been pieced together by an unlicensed European surgeon.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
A fan of Drake, like many other perpetually online teenage boys at the time, Nathan found The Weeknd in 2011 when the rapper dropped a freestyle and name-dropped him.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2025
And as the city has grown to assume a prominent place in American pop culture, it has given global renown to this local phenomenon, name-dropped by Raymond Chandler, Nancy Meyers and the Beach Boys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2024
As the Greyhounds’ crop of first-years filed in for their own camp weeks earlier, Kartye was name-dropped — now with NHL approval.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
After his release from prison, he said, he apologized to a number of rap artists, name-dropping Rick Ross, Drake and Nicki Minaj.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025
A few years ago Tianna, who is black, also began noticing men name-dropping black feminists they had read during conversation.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
Johnson continued to post Instagram videos — some still name-dropping Rogan and some filmed while he’s in a shower — throughout the day, even after he arrived at the hotel in Austin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2025
The name-dropping may well continue when cross-examination continues Friday.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
I can’t mention anything about this town without Ella name-dropping someone she knows.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
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.
