wow

¹

[ wou ]

interjection

1. (an exclamation of surprise, wonder, pleasure, or the like):

   Wow! Look at that!

verb (used with object)

1. to gain an enthusiastic response from; thrill.

noun

1. an extraordinary success:

   His act is a real wow.

2. excitement, interest, great pleasure, or the like:

   a car that will add some wow to your life.

wow

²

[ wou ]

noun

1. Audio. a slow wavering of pitch in sound recording or reproducing equipment caused by uneven speed of the turntable or the tape. Compare flutter ( def 12 ).
2. Scot. and North England Dialect. a howl, wail, bark, whine, or mew.

verb (used without object)

1. Scot. and North England Dialect. to howl, wail, bark, whine, or mew.

wow

¹

/ waʊ; wəʊ /

noun

1. a slow variation or distortion in pitch that occurs at very low audio frequencies in sound-reproducing systems, such as a record player, usually due to variation in speed of the turntable, etc See also flutter

WOW

²

abbreviation for

1. waiting on weather: used esp in the oil industry

wow

³

/ waʊ /

interjection

1. an exclamation of admiration, amazement, etc

noun

1. slang.
   a person or thing that is amazingly successful, attractive, etc

verb

1. slang.
   tr to arouse great enthusiasm in

Word History and Origins

Origin of wow¹

1890–95; perhaps identical with Scots wow! exclamation of surprise or admiration

Origin of wow²

1800–10 wow ²fordefs 2, 3; 1930–35 wow ²fordef 1; imitative; the audio term is probably an independent formation

Word History and Origins

Origin of wow¹

C20: of imitative origin

Origin of wow²

C16: originally Scottish, expressive of surprise, amazement, etc

Example Sentences

Not for narcissistic reasons, but when you see the video of me doing the show in 2014 it was like, wow, I’ve been doing this show a long time.

From Los Angeles Times

He added: "I think there are low expectations of people with disabilities - sometimes you’ll come down a set of steps into a taxi and people say 'wow, how did you do that?'"

From BBC

“My heart dropped to my stomach. It’s just shocking, traumatic, like, wow. Speechless. Just the range of emotions.”

From Los Angeles Times

Or when I’m riding that Staten Island ferry, I’m writing songs, so this book has hundreds of pages in it to be quite frank and it’s just like, wow.

From Los Angeles Times

“That actually made me a bit emotional, because I was like, wow, you're going above and beyond for something that's not your fault… that's how I saw it at the time, naively,” Jack says.

From BBC

Related Words

• charm
• entertain