ooh la la
UK/ˈuː.læ.læ//u.lɑˈlɑ/
ooh la la interjection: a reply implying pretentiousness; often in response to another person's use of a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French.
Interjection
- A reply implying pretentiousness; often in response to another person's use of a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French.
- Oh, they were serving croque-monsieurs, now were they? Ooh la la.
- An exclamation of surprise, sometimes with strong sexual connotations.
- Ooh la la, monsieur, you do have big muscles after all.
- Well, what are we gonna tell your mama? / What are we gonna tell your pa? / What are we gonna tell our friends / When they say, "Ooh la la!"1957, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, “Wake Up Little Susie”, performed by The Everly Brothers
Forms of ooh la la
| alternative form | oo-la-la |
|---|
Origin of ooh la la
French oh là là / ouh là là, an exclamation of surprise, concern, or dismay. The French exclamation lacks the connotations of the English, either of snobbery or raciness; these emerged in English owing to stereotypes about the French.
Words that rhyme with ooh la la
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- Moskva
- Nansha
- rah
- shikar
- ah
- aha
- alhamdulillah
- Amapá
- Benoit
- Bogotá
- fa
- galah
- goombah
- huzzah
- inshallah
- Jah
- la
- lah-di-dah
- ma
- moire
- mudra
- ménage à trois
- na
- omertà
- pa
- schwa
- shah
- Shangri-La
- sis boom bah
- ta
- wah
- Xisha
- 'za
- allah
- ar
- arthra
- Aymara
- baa
- bah
- Bogota
- boyar
- bra
- cha
- cha cha cha
- chamar
- che sara sara
- chicken paw
- da
Questions about ooh la la
- What does ooh la la mean?
- Ooh la la means a reply implying pretentiousness; often in response to another person's use of a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French.
- What part of speech is ooh la la?
- Ooh la la is an interjection.
- How do you pronounce ooh la la?
- Ooh la la is pronounced /ˈuː.læ.læ/ (UK).
Words near ooh la la in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ooh la la (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)-Flame, not lame-ooh la la.wav.
Cite this entry: “ooh la la.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ooh_la_la. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.