barn burner

noun

: one that arouses much interest or excitement
the game should be a real barn burner

Example Sentences

The game should be a real barn burner.
Recent Examples on the Web See here: Friday’s jobs report was a barn burner. Allison Morrow, CNN, 6 Feb. 2023 The topic was a barn burner. Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2022 Paul Gronke, a political science professor and director of the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College, said Oregon voters' enthusiasm as expressed by early turnout is particularly impressive because there aren’t any barn burner statewide races this year. oregonlive, 31 Oct. 2020 As political speeches go, Representative Liz Cheney’s address to a packed gym here on Tuesday evening was hardly a barn burner. Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2022 The Mastermind, an absolute barn burner of a nonfiction book about another elite criminal: Paul Le Roux, a programmer turned drug kingpin. Vulture, 24 June 2022 It’s anything but a barn burner, although the violinist does gets some soaring lines and nimble double stops. Dallas News, 8 Jan. 2022 The 2014-21 cloud-computing hype cycle, helped by near-zero interest rates, was a barn burner that lasted way too long. Andy Kessler, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2022 Meanwhile, the matchup of the Rams and Chiefs is likely to be a barn burner as well. Chris Morris, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2022 See More

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

Word History

First Known Use

1951, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of barn burner was in 1951

Dictionary Entries Near barn burner

Cite this Entry

“Barn burner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barn%20burner. Accessed 8 Jun. 2023.

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