hoo-ha

or hoo-hah (ho͞o′hä′)

n. Slang

1. A fuss; a disturbance: "the subject of this last hoo-hah" (William Safire).

2. A chortle or laugh: got a good hoo-ha out of that story.

[Perhaps from Yiddish hu-ha, to-do, uproar, exclamation.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

hoo-hah - a disorderly outburst or tumult; "they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused"

commotion, hoo-ha, hurly burly, kerfuffle, to-do, disruption, disturbance, flutter

disorder - a disturbance of the peace or of public order

turmoil, upheaval, convulsion - a violent disturbance; "the convulsions of the stock market"

earthquake - a disturbance that is extremely disruptive; "selling the company caused an earthquake among the employees"

incident - a public disturbance; "the police investigated an incident at the bus station"

stir, splash - a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event; "he made a great splash and then disappeared"

tempest, storm - a violent commotion or disturbance; "the storms that had characterized their relationship had died away"; "it was only a tempest in a teapot"

storm center, storm centre - a center of trouble or disturbance

garboil, tumult, tumultuousness, uproar - a state of commotion and noise and confusion

hoo-hah

noun

Slang. A condition of intense public interest or excitement:

brouhaha, sensation, stir, uproar.

Informal: to-do.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

"South Kerry won the county championship the year before and my father was selector and he was chairman of the South Kerry board, and there was a big hoo-hah at the time who would be captain.

WE WILL COME UP AND GIVE IT A SHOT

Shrewsbury collective Jonathan Markwood's Hoo-Hah Conspiracy have announced their new record will be available on May 25.

Plenty of Hoo-Hah for new album

As the government has embarked upon an austerity drive and is trying to cut down on the expenses to reduce the economic losses the country has incurred, it is unfortunate to know that in spite of all the hoo-hah, the climate change ministry is not doing enough to deal with the threat of climate change.

Pollution tax

Take it as another layer of pressure removed following all the hoo-hah over the suicidal 2017 tour schedule and the All Blacks' recent world record breaking run.

COMMENT DELME PARFITT

We kept complaining that Chyna and her folks were trying too hard to take him out of his 'comfort zone,' but viewers didn't know what the hoo-hah he was muttering about.

Odd son out

AMID all the hoo-hah about Ken Livingstone's (inset) now infamous comments about Hitler and Zionism I waited in vain for a "proper" historian to shed some much-needed light on whether his comments made any sense or not.

Poor judgement from Ken over Hitler Zionism claim

You can bet there'll be more blows traded before this hoo-hah finally dies down.

An ill wind for grump Trump

The nominations for this years MTV VMAs caused a bit of a hoo-hah.

MTV VMAs full winners list: Taylor Swift takes home three Moonmen but did Nicki Minaj leave empty handed? All eyes were on Taylor and Nicki as the awards were announced at the ceremony; All eyes were on Taylor and Nicki as the awards were announced at the ceremony

SALLY AND TIM CORONATION STREET Who knew a secondhand sofa could cause such a hoo-hah? Give it another week and it'll be given its own spin-off series!

What a week for NICOLA AND JIMMY

And identifying other wastage besides the recent BT hoo-hah.

Joe is doing too much; SUNDAY SHOUT SUNDAY SHOUT

From aping Terry Wogan whilst sat in a traffic jam on the B132 - "Oh, it's morns like this when I wish was back in Phuket at a full moon party bouncing a ladyboy on each knee" - to cheering up a depressed newsagent with some Al Pacino-style shouty "Hoo-hah"-ing, it was a noble but gimmicky attempt to transfer Mynott's obvious skills to a more traditional sitcom format.

NATHAN BEVAN ON THE BOX