name-dropper
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of name-dropper
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
He’s a compulsive name-dropper, peppering his speeches with boring stories whose only point is to exaggerate his relationship to famous people.
From Salon • Sep. 10, 2025
Baker is an All-Star name-dropper, having casually mentioned interactions with 11-time NBA champ Bill Russell, basketball Hall of Famer Moses Malone and John F. Kennedy Jr. in recent months.
From Washington Times • Oct. 25, 2021
Baker is an All-Star name-dropper, having casually mentioned interactions with 11-time NBA champ Bill Russell, NBA Hall of Famer Moses Malone and John F. Kennedy Jr. in recent months.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 24, 2021
She is at some pains, though, to dispel the widespread notion that the books can’t be much good because their author was a toff—a snob, a name-dropper, a mossbacked Tory.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 5, 2018
Ah no, wait, it’s Evan Handler playing Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer and Harvard name-dropper whose high-profile clients included Patty Hearst, Mike Tyson and, currently, Julian Assange.
From The Guardian • Mar. 8, 2016
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.
