hoorah, hooray

1 of 4
hoo·​rah hu̇-ˈrä How to pronounce hoorah (audio)
-ˈrȯ

less common variants of hurrah

1
a
: excitement, fanfare
b
: cheer sense 1
2
: fuss

hooray

2 of 4

interjection

hoo·​ray hu̇-ˈrā How to pronounce hooray (audio)
variants or less commonly hurrah
hu̇-ˈrȯ, 
-ˈrä How to pronounce hooray (audio)
or hurray
hu̇-ˈrā How to pronounce hooray (audio)
—used to express joy, approval, or encouragement
Hip, hip, hooray!
Hooray! I got the job!

hurrah

3 of 4

noun

hur·​rah hu̇-ˈrȯ How to pronounce hurrah (audio)
-ˈrä;
ˈhü-ˌrȯ, 
-ˌrä
variants or less commonly hooray
hu̇-ˈrā How to pronounce hurrah (audio)
or hoorah
hu̇-ˈrä How to pronounce hurrah (audio)
-ˈrȯ
1
a
: excitement, fanfare
b
: cheer sense 1
2
: fuss

hurrah, hurray

4 of 4
hur·​rah
hu̇-ˈrȯ, 
-ˈrä How to pronounce hurrah (audio)

less common variants of hooray

—used to express joy, approval, or encouragement
Hip, hip, hooray!
Hooray! I got the job!

Synonyms of hoorah

Relevance

Interjection

See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of hoorah in a Sentence

Interjection “Hooray!” he cried when he heard that his team had won
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Interjection
In the meantime, hooray for the archive! — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 26 Sep. 2025 Robots that don’t squish people into goo, hooray! — IEEE Spectrum, 24 Feb. 2017
Noun
The final hurrah with the World Cup at stake. — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 31 May 2026 Trevor Noah is gearing up for one last Grammys hurrah. — Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hoorah

Word History

Etymology

Interjection

perhaps from German hurra

First Known Use

Interjection

1686, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1686, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of hoorah was in 1686

Phrases Containing hoorah

Rhymes for hoorah

See All Rhymes for hoorah

Browse Nearby Words

hoopwood
hoorah
hoorah's nest
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hoorah.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoorah. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All