buzzword

Syllables: buzz·wordUK/ˈbʌzwɜː(ɹ)d//ˈbʌzwɜɹd/

buzzword noun: a word drawn from, or imitative of, technical jargon, used more to impress others than to convey meaning.

Noun

buzzword (plural buzzwords)

(derogatory, sometimes) A word drawn from, or imitative of, technical jargon, used more to impress others than to convey meaning.
- Their salespeople know all the right buzzwords, but they can't really help you solve your problems.
- Ideology is a [George Cabot] Lodge buzzword, as they say in business schools, the first word that sends many executives and students who would emulate them, into fury.1972 May 14, Marylyn Bender, “Harvard's Brahmin Radical”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2022

Coined in the 1970s in the United States, from buzz + word.

What does buzzword mean?: Buzzword means a word drawn from, or imitative of, technical jargon, used more to impress others than to convey meaning.
What is buzzword in Vietnamese?: Buzzword in Vietnamese is thuật ngữ hay. See Buzzword meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is buzzword?: Buzzword is a noun.
How do you pronounce buzzword?: Buzzword is pronounced /ˈbʌzwɜː(ɹ)d/ (UK).
What is the plural of buzzword?: The plural of buzzword is buzzwords.

Adapted from Wiktionary: buzzword (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-buzzword.ogg.

Cite this entry: “buzzword.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/buzzword. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.