word of mouth
word of mouth
Meaning
- oral communication
- refers to the act of people sharing information with others
- to volunteer information about something and be willing to tell others
- spoken words used to convey information
- verbal communication between people
Examples Sentences
- To truly create the right buzz about this movie, we need to get the required word of mouth going in this city.
- Most of the negative information about our school appears to come from crazy stories being spread by word of mouth in the town’s social circles.
- The best marketing campaigns happen by word of mouth. Look! What did Tesla do?
- Everyone knows Doug is a bully. It spreads through word of mouth across the whole school.
Origin
The origin of the phrase can be traced back to 1533 when the Oxford English Dictionary noted its first written occurrence. It was defined as the act of speaking, which is when information is passed from one person to another by the use of speech. Basically, it is what we call oral communication. The etymology of the phrase is from the Old English word “mop,” meaning “mouth,” so “word of mouth” is speech that is directly communicated from one person’s mouth to the ears of another. At its most basic, it can be said to be interpersonal communication through oral speech.
The use of word of mouth mostly occurs in informal settings, and therefore, people trust the information that is usually straight from the mouths of their family and friends. Most businesses and reputations are built and destroyed by word of mouth.
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