hot air

See synonyms for hot air on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. empty, exaggerated, or pretentious talk or writing: His report on the company's progress was just so much hot air.

Origin of hot air

1
1835–45 for literal sense

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

How to use hot air in a sentence

  • Through these flues were forced currents of hot air from a blaze in a large fireplace at one end of the house.

    Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
  • The chimney was at the other end, and thus a draught of hot air constantly passed beneath the floors in cold weather.

    Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
  • The hot air passed as indicated by the arrows, escaping through openings near the roof in the outside wall of the apodytrium.

    The Private Life of the Romans | Harold Whetstone Johnston
  • She felt dimly the difference between the hot air of the dance-hall and the warm air out of doors.

    Blazed Trail Stories | Stewart Edward White
  • The roof, of thin iron plate, is provided with a ventilator to allow of the escape of hot air.

British Dictionary definitions for hot air

hot air

noun
  1. informal empty and usually boastful talk

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with hot air

hot air

Empty, exaggerated talk, as in That last speech of his was pure hot air. It is also put as full of hot air, as in Pay no attention to Howard—he's full of hot air. This metaphoric term transfers heated air to vaporous talk. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.