word of mouth

American  

noun

1. informal oral communication.

   The rumor spread rapidly by word of mouth.

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Other Word Forms

• word-of-mouth adjective

Etymology

Origin of word of mouth

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

It genuinely feels like it’s word of mouth that people have been discovering the film.

From Los Angeles Times

But those first few years of me at the venue, it was word of mouth.

From Los Angeles Times

The Prison Governors Association has said a surge in applications from west Africa appears to have been fuelled by word of mouth and jobs being promoted online by the expat Nigerian community.

From BBC

“The next week, 20 girls showed up just from word of mouth, and then the next week 40, and then the next 60, and then we had over 100 girls.”

From Los Angeles Times

You heard about a movie through word of mouth or from a critic in the paper, or you chose a film at random.

From The Wall Street Journal