puffery

American  

[puhf-uh-ree] / ˈpʌf ə ri /

noun

pufferies plural

1. undue or exaggerated praise.

2. publicity, acclaim, etc., that is full of undue or exaggerated praise.

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puffery British  

/ ˈpʌfərɪ /

noun

1. informal exaggerated praise, esp in publicity or advertising

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Etymology

Origin of puffery

First recorded in 1730–35; puff (in the sense “to praise with exaggeration”) + -ery

Explanation

When you overdo the praise in order to flatter someone, that's puffery. It's probably puffery if your sister tells you you're the most attractive, smartest, kindest person she knows — right before asking you to loan her 50 dollars. If you exaggerate compliments in order to get something in return, you've engaged in puffery. In addition to this common usage, puffery is also an actual legal term meaning "an exaggeration or statement that no reasonable person would take as factual." So if a furniture company claims in a TV ad that one night's sleep on their mattresses will raise your IQ by 20 points, you can be pretty sure it's puffery.

Example Sentences

Ms. Coppola’s approach doesn’t even rise to the level of the journalism in Vogue, which itself gets lots of puffery.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

Tesla’s defense in the shareholder case included the argument that statements like those were “mere corporate puffery, vague statements of optimism.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2025

The panda wins by virtue of the puffery and power grab.

From Slate • Jul. 21, 2025

Customers are expected to be smart enough to recognise that ads will often contain a certain amount of "puffery".

From BBC • Sep. 2, 2023

Nearly every metropolitan daily is now engaged in this nauseous puffery business, and the infection is rapidly spreading to the illustrated weeklies and magazines.

From Brann the Iconoclast — Volume 01 by Brann, William Cowper