peanut gallery

noun

1. Informal.,  the rearmost and cheapest section of seats in the balcony or the uppermost balcony of a theater.

2. Slang.,  a source of insignificant criticism.

   No remarks from the peanut gallery!

Word History and Origins

Origin of peanut gallery¹

An Americanism dating back to 1885–90

Example Sentences

And, barring a stunning comeback, McIlroy will have the best possible response to the peanut gallery: for the second time in his career, he’ll have won the Ryder Cup on American turf.

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Some commentators, abetted by the right-wing peanut gallery, may simply have extrapolated from indications that she was targeting price gouging, but that’s on them, not her.

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Musk and his peanut gallery crowed that this represented a victory, but it’s hardly that.

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Egged on by the conservative peanut gallery, DeSantis has relentlessly pushed himself to the right.

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More peanut gallery antics from Cash followed, but I was loving it.

Read more on Salon

When To Use

More context on peanut gallery

First evidenced in the late 1800s, peanut gallery, as we explain in our definition above, is "the rearmost and cheapest section of seats in the balcony or the uppermost balcony of a theater."Apparently, the term takes its name from the people who sat there and ate peanuts. These people, who were often poor or Black, became stereotyped as rowdy—and this history gives the problematic peanut gallery classist and racist undertones.Beginning in the 1800s, peanut gallery started to spread as a slang term for a "source of insignificant criticism” by association with the behaviors of the stereotypical occupants of the peanut gallery.If knowing the history of peanut gallery has got you reflecting on your word choices, this slideshow, "These Common Words Have Offensive Histories," discusses many other words whose place in your vocab you may want to reconsider.