| sound bite | |
| —n | |
| a short pithy sentence or phrase extracted from a longer speech for use on radio or television | |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
sound bite
A short, striking, quotable statement well suited to a television news program. For example, He's extremely good at sound bites, but a really substantive speech is beyond him. This slangy expression, first recorded in 1980, originated in political campaigns in which candidates tried to get across a particular message or get publicity by having it picked up in newscasts.