hashtag

noun

hash·tag ˈhash-ˌtag

plural hashtags

: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)

You know a thing is really a thing these days when it has its own hashtag. And there it was last week, trending on Twitter alongside #cincodemayo and #happymothersday: #umpshow, which sprang up in the wake of some shockingly bad umpiring over the first six weeks of the major league season.—

Joe Sheehan

It's also true that a popular hashtag can benefit important and worthy subjects, such as the recently kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.—

Mark Leibovich

also : the symbol # as used in a hashtag

Did you know?

Hashtags are an everyday part of Internet culture, thanks to social media. Originally designed for categorizing posts (i.e., tagging them) on Twitter, hashtags now commonly also supplement or comment on whatever text or image they accompany. The “hash” in hashtag is short for hash mark, a term for what we also call a pound sign or, if you want to apply the word-nerdiest designation, an octothorpe. Hash in this case is probably an alteration of hatch, a term for the lines artists sometimes use to add shading to a drawing. #WordNerdery

Examples of hashtag in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Jo is still using her channel to answer viewers’ burning questions and the #mortician hashtag has racked up over 1.7 billion views. —

Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 18 Nov. 2023 But after the global wave of authoritarian leaders were elected to office, racial justice resources went toward electoral politics and hashtag resistance. —

WIRED, 16 Nov. 2023 Over the next month, more than 46,000 posts featured the hashtag, often alongside language that called for violence against Jews. —

Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, 15 Nov. 2023 That’s how many views the hashtag #uncannyvalley has on TikTok. —

Arianna Johnson, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023 On TikTok, the top 45 videos using the Charged Lemonade hashtag contain warnings from people who had the drink and experienced trouble sleeping, rapid heartbeats, shaky hands, and more. —

Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2023 Besides, using a hashtag too soon can result in getting spammed by wedding vendors. —

Hayley Bloomingdale, Vogue, 7 Nov. 2023 Laxatives often appear on the TikTok hashtag #guttok. —

Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2023 In fact, TikTok alone has more than 30 billion views on the hashtag #ADHD, and nearly 2 billion for #ADHDtok, and the community profiles creators through #MentalHealthAwareness month and beyond. —

Ines Lozano, Parents, 27 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hashtag.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.