Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Excessive publicity and the ensuing commotion.
  • noun Exaggerated or extravagant claims made especially in advertising or promotional material.
  • noun An advertising or promotional ploy.
  • noun Something deliberately misleading; a deception.
  • transitive verb To publicize or promote, especially by extravagant, inflated, or misleading claims.
  • noun A hypodermic injection, syringe, or needle.
  • noun A drug addict.
  • transitive verb To stimulate or excite. Often used with up.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See hipe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Promotion or propaganda; especially, exaggerated claims.
  • verb transitive To promote heavily; to advertise or build up.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb publicize in an exaggerated and often misleading manner
  • noun blatant or sensational promotion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Partly from hype, a swindle (perhaps from hyper–) and partly from hype(rbole).]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Shortening and alteration of hypodermic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hyperbole.

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Examples

Comments

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  • I'm just trying to hype the word hype.

    January 21, 2007

  • The etymology of hype is more complex than I had guessed. In addition to being short for hyperbole, it is influenced by drug user's slang, short for hypodermic needle, and also by the sense of a hyper or con man. It was not until the 1960s that it came to be used as a term for excessive advertising.

    July 10, 2007

  • Wow, it's interesting how our words to describe excitement are rooted in describing mental illness and drug activity. Our ancestors must have been awfully dull, I guess.

    July 10, 2007

  • Well, I don't know if they were dull or not, but it is interesting that one should be hopped up on hops and hyped up by hypodermic needles.

    I think I will stick with coffee. That does the trick for me.

    July 10, 2007