as in hype
information released to the media that is designed to gain public attention or support for a person, business, or cause
the newspaper's local stories are often thinly disguised puffery for area businesses
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of puffery
Sonny was married for more than 40 years to his beloved Margo — who, as was often the case of the wives of famous/infamous men, knew exactly how and when to best burst his occasional balloon of self-importance and puffery.
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David Aldridge,
New York Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Vendor puffery may also be legal, but that means the IT customer needs a healthy skepticism of the typically too-good-to-be-true promises vendors make.
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IEEE Spectrum,
23 Nov. 2025
The defendants have been described by one defense lawyer as being video gamers and recreational gun enthusiasts who were engaged in puffery, nothing else.
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Tresa Baldas,
Freep.com,
3 Nov. 2025
Which is why, having failed to stop the coming spending cuts with preening puffery and shameless dishonesty, defenders of taxpayer dollars for public media have pulled out the last tool out of their political toolbox.
—
Michael Graham,
Boston Herald,
18 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for puffery
David Aldridge,
New York Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Vendor puffery may also be legal, but that means the IT customer needs a healthy skepticism of the typically too-good-to-be-true promises vendors make.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
23 Nov. 2025
The defendants have been described by one defense lawyer as being video gamers and recreational gun enthusiasts who were engaged in puffery, nothing else.
—
Tresa Baldas,
Freep.com,
3 Nov. 2025
Which is why, having failed to stop the coming spending cuts with preening puffery and shameless dishonesty, defenders of taxpayer dollars for public media have pulled out the last tool out of their political toolbox.
—
Michael Graham,
Boston Herald,
18 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for puffery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puffery
Noun
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Usage spikes can happen suddenly, experimentation expands rapidly across teams and model selection decisions may be driven more by hype than operational efficiency.
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But contrary to the TikTok hype, hypochlorous acid is not a cure-all.
Noun
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But Tom’s publicity coup comes at a cost.
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Troupis and Roman both filed motions seeking to relocate the trial from Dane County, which includes Madison, to neighboring Jefferson County, saying negative publicity had tainted the potential jury pool.
Noun
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The emails span from the administration's early days — when HHS sought to shut down a flu vaccine advertising campaign — to the dramatic firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez last August.
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The breaks, introduced to help players cope with high temperatures across North America, have opened up additional advertising windows for broadcasters.
Noun
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Before the tournament began, Haaland, 25, appeared in a Nike advertisement with Tatum, 46.
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Among the company's more notable efforts was a five-second Super Bowl advertisement that was timed to coincide with app notifications sent to millions of users, linking a major media moment directly to customer action.
Cite this Entry
“Puffery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puffery. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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