fanfare
Americannoun
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a flourish or short air played on trumpets or the like.
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an ostentatious display or flourish.
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publicity or advertising.
noun
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a flourish or short tune played on brass instruments, used as a military signal, at a ceremonial event, etc
-
an ostentatious flourish or display
Etymology
Origin of fanfare
1760–70; < French, expressive word akin to fanfaron fanfaron.
Explanation
Fanfare is a loud, proud burst of something to get attention. If you open up a carpet store with one of those sky-sweeping lights, lots of balloons, and a brass band, you’re doing it with great fanfare. Originally fanfare meant a short burst of music played by trumpeters, usually when someone important entered a room. But these days we describe anything as fanfare that has the same feeling as a burst of trumpets. If you’re a TV executive with a new show you think is going to be a big hit, roll it out with fanfare–—ad campaigns, billboards, celebrity parties!
Vocabulary lists containing fanfare
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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.
Judicial elections are usually sleepy affairs, subject to little political fanfare or interest.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
Apple Intelligence, announced with great fanfare, has been delayed repeatedly.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 21, 2026
Eritrea's state-owned media outlets have been unusually quiet on the victorious team's return, which would normally be accompanied by a big fanfare.
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
It appeared without fanfare on Sunday in a courtyard in front of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a part of the White House campus in Washington.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
It began not as the gorgeous fanfare over the ocean I had expected, but as a strange gray thing, like sun- shine seen through burlap.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
