wow

Attested since the 16th century; borrowed from Scots wow; ultimately a natural exclamation.

• enPR: wou, IPA^(key): /waʊ̯/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊ

wow

1. An indication of excitement, surprise, astonishment, or pleasure.

   Wow, I sure was surprised!

   • 1513, Gavin Douglas, Virgil Æneid (translation) vi. Prol. 19:

     Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.

2. An expression of amazement, awe, or admiration.

   Wow! How do they do that?

3. Used sarcastically to express disapproval of something.

   Wow… good job using all of our supplies on the first day.

• See also Thesaurus:wow

wow (third-person singular simple present wows, present participle wowing, simple past and past participle wowed)

1. (transitive, informal) To amaze or awe.

   He really wowed the audience.

   • 2015, Joe Sweeney; Mike Yorkey, Moving the Needle, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 200:

     If all of us can remember how great it felt to be wowed, why don't we make it a habit to do it more often for others? People remember you when you wow them, so to differentiate yourself with your clients and customers, think of doing something that would make them remember you.

wow (plural wows)

1. (informal) Anything exceptionally surprising, unbelievable, outstanding, etc.

   He did? That's a wow!

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 144:

     ‘And say, Jimmy, wait till you see me in my new outfit...It’s a wow, kid.’

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, OCLC 59891543, page 27:

     ‘Jesus suffering fuck,’ said Adrian. ‘It's not half a thought.’
     ‘Face it, it's a wow.’

• wowless

Imitative.

wow (countable and uncountable, plural wows)

1. (audio) A relatively slow form of flutter (pitch variation) which can affect both gramophone records and tape recorders.
   • 1970, Larry G. Goodwin, ‎Thomas Koehring, Closed-circuit Television Production Techniques (page 80)

     Sound films have to be loaded so that the sound is 5 seconds before the sound drum so a wow does not result when the film is punched up on the air.

• oww

wow

1. egg

Borrowed from English whoa.

• IPA^(key): [ɰᵝo̞ː]

wow(ウォー) • (wō) 

1. (chiefly in popular music) wow; whoa

wow

1. Alternative form of wowe

Unadapted borrowing from English wow.

• IPA^(key): /waw/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aw
• Syllabification: wow

wow

1. (colloquial) wow

• wow in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• wow in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English wow.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwau/ [ˈwau̯]
• Rhymes: -au

wow

1. wow (an indication of excitement or surprise)

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.