Word.ws English Dictionary

gonzo

/ˈɡɒnzəʊ/US/ˈɡɑnzoʊ/

gonzo adjective: using an unconventional, exaggerated, and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.

Adjective

gonzo (comparative more gonzo, superlative most gonzo)

  1. Using an unconventional, exaggerated, and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.
    • I ask Hunter to explain ... Just what is Gonzo Journalism? ... “Gonzo all started with Bill Cardosa ^([sic]), ... after I wrote the Kentucky Derby piece for Scanlan's ... the first time I realized you could write different. And ... I got this note from Cardosa saying, ‘That was pure gonzo...1972, Richard Pollack, chapter VI, in Stop the Presses, I Want to Get Off!
  2. Unconventional, bizarre, crazy.
    • Nicholson’s Torrance is an evil clown ... Appropriately, pop culture has embraced him as a gonzo antihero: Ads for T-shirts emblazoned with the “Here’s Johnny” Nicholson2007, Mark Dery, The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American culture on the brink, page 121

Noun

gonzo (countable and uncountable, plural gonzos)

  1. Gonzo journalism or a journalist who produces such journalism.
    • “Unstable” indeed! Those swine: Next year we should demand a gonzo category – or maybe R S should give it. Of course: “The first annual Rolling Stone award for the year's finest example of pure gonzo journalism.”2000, Hunter S. Thompson, Douglas Brinkley, Fear and Loathing in America: The brutal odyssey of an outlaw Journalist, 1968–1976
  2. (countable) A wild or crazy person.

Forms of gonzo

Adjective
comparativemore gonzo
superlativemost gonzo
Noun
pluralgonzos

Origin of gonzo

Coined in 1971 by Boston Globe editor Bill Cardoso. Of uncertain origin; OED proposes Italian gonzo (“dolt”) and / or Spanish ganso (“dolt, goose”). The etymology supplied by Cardoso himself (French gonzeaux) is spurious; French does have a similar word gonze, but this is a loan from Italian.

Words formed from gonzo

Words that rhyme with gonzo

Questions about gonzo

What does gonzo mean?
Gonzo means using an unconventional, exaggerated, and highly subjective style, often when the reporter takes part in the events of the story.
What part of speech is gonzo?
Gonzo can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce gonzo?
Gonzo is pronounced /ˈɡɑnzoʊ/ (US).

Words near gonzo in the dictionary

  1. Gonzales
  2. Gonzales County
  3. Gonzalez
  4. Gonzalo
  5. Gonzalos
  6. gonzo
  7. gonzo journalism
  8. gonzoism
  9. gonzos
  10. goo
  11. goo ball

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gonzo (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gonzo.wav.

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