hot air
17
5.3
- idiom
- /hɑt ɛr/
- Informal
:
palabrería
- The politician's promises about job creation were just hot air, lacking any concrete plans.
- a lot of hot air
- full of hot air
- a bunch of hot air
It's just a lot of hot air that's not strong, that's actually weak.
- It's just a lot of hot air that's not strong, that's actually weak.
- OK, well, is that just empty philosophical hot air?
- So it's actually not a lot of hot air if we consider what it really means.
- And leaning back, like, OK, I'll wait while the hot air comes out of your mouth.
- It seemed to me that Putin didn't listen or he just had an impression that it was just all talk hot air and he attacked.
- So that or we're just fucking idiots or we're just blabbering hot air, a lot of noise and you know, hopefully giving people a bit of a chuckle.
Examples
-
In my opinion, you are blowing hot air on the question of regulation.
Blog text (14) -
That's just hot air.
-
So it's actually not a lot of hot air if we consider what it really means.
-
This year, it's just hot air.
-
You make empty claims and hot air so far, nothing else!
Blog text (22) -
It's not easy to debate an empty chair with a lot of hot air but no substance.
Blog text (7) -
Predictably, there was a lot of hot air about reducing gas prices.
Blog text (24) -
I have to say that in debates of this kind there's always a considerable amount of hot air, perhaps on both sides.
-
Nuclear critics may say that this talk is no more than a lot of hot air, and the mooted renaissance is dead.
Academic text (2011) -
Talk of peace is just so much hot air to mask this process of ethnic cleansing.
Blog text (11)
Synonyms
265
7.0
Words that sound impressive but have little real meaning
48
7.5
Talk that is not true or is silly
24
8.6
Empty showy talk with little real meaning
13
8.8
Talk that is not true and tries to trick people
3
5.1
Talk that has no real meaning and is not useful
2
8.8
A lot of talk that sounds important but says nothing
1
9.6
Talk that tries to trick people with false statements
1
4.3
Words that sound important but have no real meaning or action
1
9.9
Talk that brags and makes things sound bigger than they are
1
9.9
Talk that has no useful information
Talk that brags and sounds false
Antonyms
How Meaningful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'hot' (producing heat) and 'air' (the atmosphere) do not straightforwardly combine to mean 'insincere or empty talk.' The idiomatic sense relies on a figurative mapping (talk as 'air' and 'hot' as inflated or showy) that is not transparently predictable and is not directly mirrored in many other languages, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would likely not infer the meaning.
Etymology
The idiom hot air may come from the image of warm air rising and floating away, doing a show but carrying little weight, like words that sound big but mean nothing. That's why hot air is used for 'empty or insincere talk'.