pooh-poohing

verb

variants also poohing
present participle of pooh-pooh
as in dismissing
informal to think or say that (something) is not very good or not true They pooh-poohed my suggestion. He pooh-poohed the idea that the house was haunted.

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pooh-poohing
  1. dismissing
  2. rejecting
  3. ignoring
Verb
  • Department of Defense Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael addressed Luckey's involvement with the Pentagon in comments to CNBC on Tuesday, dismissing any concerns about a potential conflict of interest.
    — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Vance’s comments last week came in response to Cruz openly discussing a potential 2028 run and dismissing a question about whether the vice president had already locked down the party’s nomination with two years to go.
    — Joseph Konig, PEOPLE, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of dismissing
Verb
  • This may involve rejecting a command, removing write access, isolating the AI, transferring control back to the operator or moving equipment into a safe state.
    — Gregory Shahnovsky, Forbes.com, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The sense was that the people who were rejecting the Keynesian model were throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of rejecting
Verb
  • Isaac Gonzalez, a traffic safety advocate and founder of Slow Down Sacramento, said roads like Valley Hi Drive were built wide and open, which can lead to drivers ignoring speed limits.
    — Madisen Keavy, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Republicans stripped away key delaying tactics in recent years by ending the filibuster in 2017 and ignoring the Judiciary Committee’s quorum rules in 2020.
    — The Conversation, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of ignoring
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.

Browse Nearby Words

pooh-poohed
pooh-poohing
pooh-poohs
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Cite this Entry

“Pooh-poohing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pooh-poohing. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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