puffery

[ puhf-uh-ree ]
See synonyms for puffery on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural puff·er·ies.
  1. undue or exaggerated praise.

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

Origin of puffery

1
First recorded in 1730–35; puff (in the sense “to praise with exaggeration”) + -ery

Words Nearby puffery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use puffery in a sentence

  • And yet they say these latter days of ours are distinguished above all else by shameless puffery!

  • And yet Spain, in no idle spirit of self-puffery, can boast of this achievement.

    The Feasts of Autolycus | Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • How I hate the glib rattle of his tongue, the mouldiness of his jests and the transparency of his puffery!

  • Among my experiences of that nauseous ingredient in theatrical life, puffery, some have been amusing enough.

    Records of a Girlhood | Frances Ann Kemble
  • It is, as will be seen, in the nature of a crusade against puffery and hysteria.

    My Contemporaries In Fiction | David Christie Murray

British Dictionary definitions for puffery

puffery

/ (ˈpʌfərɪ) /


nounplural -eries
  1. informal exaggerated praise, esp in publicity or advertising

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012