hot air
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Empty talk that is intended to impress.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He said I should join to prove that my commitment to the ending of injustice wasn't all hot air.
cos all the sort of people communists they're all just full of hot air and just really get lost
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “hot air” mean?
Empty talk that is intended to impress.
Is “hot air” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.