peanut gallery
2
7.9
- noun
- /ˈpiːnʌt ˈɡæləri/
- Informal
:
público ruidoso
- It's an excellent idea to bring in suggestions and criticisms from what's been called the peanut gallery because many of them are so penetrating.
The comments from the peanut gallery do not help the punchline.
- The comments from the peanut gallery do not help the punchline.
- Then help us drown out the peanut gallery with a like and an on topic comment.
Examples
-
Just because you got a few guys in the peanut gallery telling you that you're great doesn't make it so.
Blog text (27) -
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Blog text (29) -
Anyway, enough from me in the peanut gallery here.
Blog text (10) -
And not one word from the peanut gallery.
Blog text (27) -
This is not some voice from the peanut gallery.
Blog text (22) -
The comments from the peanut gallery do not help the punchline.
-
The comedian received loud remarks from the peanut gallery throughout his performance.
-
During the debate, comments from the peanut gallery often overshadowed the main speakers.
-
It's hard to concentrate when there are constant interruptions from the peanut gallery.
Synonyms
39
7.2
A large noisy crowd of people who are hard to control
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal constituents ('peanut' implying small/insignificant and 'gallery' meaning a group of spectators) give a partial clue that this refers to a minor or low-status audience, so a learner could guess something like 'insignificant audience'. However, the full idiomatic sense — a vocal, often disrespectful group of critics or hecklers — requires cultural/pragmatic knowledge beyond the literal words and is not fully predictable, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Peanut gallery also means a group of people who make loud, unhelpful comments. This sense comes from the picture of noisy people in the high seats shouting and 'heckling' performers, so it is used for critics who speak without much authority.