ballyhoo
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
-
a noisy, confused, or nonsensical situation or uproar
-
sensational or blatant advertising or publicity
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ballyhoosimple
-
ballyhoossimple
-
have ballyhooedperfect
-
has ballyhooedperfect
-
am ballyhooingprogressive
-
are ballyhooingprogressive
-
is ballyhooingprogressive
-
have been ballyhooingperfect progressive
-
has been ballyhooingperfect progressive
Past
-
ballyhooedsimple
-
had ballyhooedperfect
-
was ballyhooingprogressive
-
were ballyhooingprogressive
-
had been ballyhooingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ballyhoo
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; of uncertain origin
Explanation
The word ballyhoo is both a noun and a verb that refers to making a big, noisy fuss about something. Promoters might ballyhoo a new store opening by plastering the airwaves with ads and throwing a big parade on opening day. Ballyhoo is all about being loud and flashy, creating an attention-grabbing spectacle. The term originated in early 20th-century slang to describe the loud carnival barkers yelling out exaggerated pronouncements when trying to drum up a crowd for a sideshow or attraction. Over time, it came to mean any hype or commotion to promote something. Using the word as a noun, you could say, "Despite all the ballyhoo, the movie was a box office flop." As a verb, you might say, "The bookstore ballyhooed the arrival of the last book in the popular series."
Vocabulary lists containing ballyhoo
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:
“The noble art of ballyhoo, which had flourished so successfully in the nineteen-twenties, had lost something of its vigor,” he mourns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
This L.A. was the self-invented mirage city of unflagging ballyhoo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
After so much preseason ballyhoo around the teaming of James, Davis and Westbrook, the trio managed to play in only 21 games together — and went 11-10.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2022
Barely a decade ago, the New York men’s wear presentations merited their own dedicated week with all the attendant ballyhoo, parties, corporate sponsorships and street-style photographers trawling for Instagram fodder.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2022
The other was busy going through the motions in heavily accented Spanish broadly emphasizing common words that lead to nods and ballyhoo, those expected currencies of behavior.
From The Land of Look Behind by Brown, Paul Cameron
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” a goofy seventh installment that rattles along well enough until the wheels fall off, ballyhoos an evolution: a biomechanical gorilla who calls himself Optimus Primal.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
He ballyhoos himself as "a genie of journalistic paste jars, a fantastic flower nurtured in a pot of printer's ink, a product of the freedom of the press."
From Time Magazine Archive
He places donors' names conspicuously beneath the paintings, and ballyhoos their gifts through his newspaper chain.
From Time Magazine Archive
Press Agent Robinet de Clery ballyhoos the Union as a more universal institution than the League, because Japan and the U. S., League nonmembers, and totalitarian Italy which finds the League distasteful, regularly send delegates.
From Time Magazine Archive
He's after a school of ballyhoos or mossbunkers ….
From Black Caesar's Clan : a Florida Mystery Story by Terhune, Albert Payson
Meanwhile, the ballyhooed metaverse—or something equivalent to an all-encompassing virtual world—could bring more-stunning changes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Are the company’s new ballyhooed protections up for the task of keeping kids safe?
From Slate ● May 17, 2026
Tens of thousands of people are now making their way to New York City’s Times Square to participate in the ballyhooed New Year’s Eve ball-drop event and mark the start of 2026.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 31, 2025
Dylan Cease, 30, SP, 1.1, 16.9: His ballyhooed acquisition by the Padres ahead of the 2024 season didn’t turn out so well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2025
And all of the ballyhooed techniques used by the armies of market researchers at CBS utterly failed to distinguish between these two very different emotions.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
This was the only article I found ballyhooing that nearly half of us drink white wine at room temperature.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2022
Then forward to Samuel Bowles, now-forgotten editor of Massachusetts’s Springfield Republican, whom Drabelle credits with salvaging, then ballyhooing Olmsted’s lost recommendations.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2021
Mr. Weissmann in 2003 brought charges against executives for ballyhooing the development of internet products to drive up the share price and make an insider stock killing.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 22, 2017
Still, NBC is ballyhooing the season’s kickoff game of Kansas City at New England as the 200th regular-season telecast in its “Sunday Night Football” package.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 1, 2017
It was Darry Drew up on a stool ballyhooing for the soft drink booth.
From The Campfire Girls of Roselawn Or, a Strange Message from the Air by Penrose, Margaret
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.
