variants
also poo-bah
as in heavyweight
one of high position or importance within a group
an annual clambake that attracts political pooh-bahs from around the state
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of pooh-bah
Instead of improving classroom instruction, education pooh-bahs try to hide their failures by dumbing down standards.
—
Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
This kind of surgical enhancement can still be frowned upon in the restoration world, decried as fakery by the pooh-bahs of all-original-everything.
—Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 13 July 2024
To Richardson-Merrell’s pooh-bahs, her scrutiny seemed like the dilatory work of someone who didn’t know how the game was played.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Like Joe Rogan, the carnivorous pooh-bah of this intellectual space, Brand appeared interested in teaching a certain kind of man how to be a certain kind of man, mining the tension between think-for-yourself riffs and listen-to-me conclusions.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
But the pooh-bahs in Brussels didn’t exactly rush to say yes.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Steve Forbes, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
This kind of surgical enhancement can still be frowned upon in the restoration world, decried as fakery by the pooh-bahs of all-original-everything.
—Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 13 July 2024
To Richardson-Merrell’s pooh-bahs, her scrutiny seemed like the dilatory work of someone who didn’t know how the game was played.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Like Joe Rogan, the carnivorous pooh-bah of this intellectual space, Brand appeared interested in teaching a certain kind of man how to be a certain kind of man, mining the tension between think-for-yourself riffs and listen-to-me conclusions.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
But the pooh-bahs in Brussels didn’t exactly rush to say yes.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pooh-bah
Noun
-
Zhao's feature also counts Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes as producers.—
Sydney Bucksbaum,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Jan. 2026
-
Banks, transportation stocks, hotels and small-caps are cooking, helping to offset the cooling-off in several of the tech heavyweights that had large1ly led the S & P’s three-year, 80% advance.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Celtics pounded the paint with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, a pair of bruising bigs who also can force the issue from 3-point range despite their lumbering dispositions.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Perhaps names like Zach Ehrhard or James Tibbs III could see time in the bigs.—
Katie Woo,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Dark Ages gave us an extremely metal prequel that — while a bit too lore and cutscene-heavy — presented more surprising tricks and gameplay refreshes to keep the long-running FPS series alive and kicking butt.—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
26 Dec. 2025
-
However, a combination of tariffs, inflation and narrow GDP growth kept the tech-heavy S & P 500 in the lead over the Russell 2000.—
Lisa Kailai Han,
CNBC,
10 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Singer island is so named after Paris Singer, a descendant of the Singer Sewing Machine magnate, who began developing the Palm Beach coastline into a national luxury destination in the 1920s.—
Kelsey Glennon,
Southern Living,
7 Jan. 2026
-
O’Leary isn’t the only nonprofessional in Marty Supreme’s sprawling cast, which includes rapper Tyler the Creator, real-life table-tennis champion Koto Kawaguchi, filmmaker Abel Ferrara, and supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
2 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The film stars Andrew McCarthy as Jim, a NASA bigwig tasked with helping Apollo (Drew Van Acker), an astronaut with memory loss, figure out what happened to cause his ship to crash and leave the other crew dead.—
William Earl,
Variety,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Sharon and Expectation met with then BBC content boss Charlotte Moore and other bigwigs at the British public broadcaster, and Home to Roost was set up as a ten-part BBC series that would follow the return home.—
Stewart Clarke,
Deadline,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Amidst all those tech tycoons, luxury’s biggest name sits at seventh in the billionaire rankings.—
Rachel Cormack,
Robb Report,
31 Dec. 2025
-
Former Russian banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov says a single Instagram post condemning the war in Ukraine cost him nearly $9 billion, after he was forced to sell his stake in his bank for a fraction of its real value.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
29 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pooh-bah.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pooh-bah. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share