woo woo
/ˈwuːˌwuː/
woo woo noun: a person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
Noun (1)
woo woo (countable and uncountable, plural woo woos)
- A person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
- That reporter is a bit of a woo woo.
- Supernatural, paranormal, occult, esoteric, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
- Near-synonyms: supernatural, paranormal, occult, esotericism, pseudoscience, quackery
- He is really into all that woo woo.
- Synonyms:
- supernatural, paranormal, occult, esotericism, pseudoscience, quackery
Adjective
woo woo (comparative more woo woo, superlative most woo woo)
- Supernatural, pseudoscientific.
- He made a living out of woo woo beliefs.
- One person's wonderful supplement is another person's quackery. There are continual skirmishes—if not outright war—between some of the more woo-woo elements of the wellness industry and science and fact-based solutions.2020 April 3, Brigid Delaney, “Elle Macpherson Is Our May Cover Star”, in Harper's Bazaar, archived from the original on 13 Apr 2020
- Readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
- Pert is a talented scientist who went woo woo many years ago for reasons I don’t have time to go into here.2005 April 18, “What the (Bleep) Were They Thinking?”, in Skeptico, archived from the original on 18 May 2020
- Open-minded and vaguely woo-woo herself, she, too, left Jeffrey's chamber of Yoni floating.2016, Melissa Broder, So Sad Today
Noun (2)
woo woo (plural woo woos)
- An alcoholic cocktail consisting of peach schnapps, vodka and cranberry juice.
- Only top-shelf liquor is served, though Sasha refuses to serve drinks he deems fratlike. These include woo woos, kamikazes and shots of any kind.2000 May 7, Julia Chaplin, “Buzz Off: Secret Bars That Spurn Hype”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
Noun (3)
woo woo (plural woo woos)
- The sound of a siren.
Synonyms of woo woo
Forms of woo woo
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | woo woos |
| alternative form | woo |
| alternative form | woo-woo |
| alternative form | woowoo |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more woo woo |
| superlative | most woo woo |
Origin of woo woo
Uncertain. It has been suggested that "woo woo" is intended to imitate the eerie background music of sci-fi/horror films and television shows. A connection has also been suggested to stereotypical sounds of ghosts (see boo and compare goetia).
Unknown.
Imitative of a siren.
Words formed from woo woo
Questions about woo woo
- What does woo woo mean?
- Woo woo means a person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
- What part of speech is woo woo?
- Woo woo can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce woo woo?
- Woo woo is pronounced /ˈwuːˌwuː/.
- What is the plural of woo woo?
- The plural of woo woo is woo woos.
Words near woo woo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: woo woo (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-woo woo.wav.
Cite this entry: “woo woo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/woo_woo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.