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
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
That moment taught me the value of candor over puffery.
—Marc Stad, TIME, 16 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for puffery
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
That moment taught me the value of candor over puffery.
—Marc Stad, TIME, 16 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for puffery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puffery
Noun
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Marc Barnes, a thirty-two-year-old professor at the college, is the unofficial hype man of the downtown-revitalization effort.—
Emma Green,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
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This conversation moves beyond hype to provide practical insight into what separates creators who build sustainable careers from those who don’t.—
Marcus Jones,
IndieWire,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This month, the group has tied a publicity drive to a bill in the Colorado Senate that would strengthen local oversight of noise ordinances.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
14 Apr. 2026
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The Sussexes reject criticisms that the visit is a publicity tour.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The Bangalore studio, which will become fully operational this summer, will be fully integrated into Rodeo FX’s global pipeline, to support productions across film, episodic, animation, advertising, and immersive experiences and help scale production capacity across the group.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
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Google has long been a dominant force in the digital advertising world.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The cartel has been accused of using fake job advertisements to lure new members and of torturing and killing recruits who resist.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2026
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The first, a lithograph-on-tin advertisement for Sapolin Enamel, pictured its label above a scene of a young girl painting a bedstead.—
Howard Halle,
ARTnews.com,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Puffery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puffery. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.
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