Foofaraw
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Overly excessive or flashy ornamentation or decoration. informal
"The thumping bands, the badges, the pretty girls and all the time-honored foofaraw failed to charge up the Republican batteries to the sparking point. The great engine just would not turn over — at the start."
- 2 Fuss over something of little importance. informal
"In the whole foofaraw around Napster, what mostly got lost was the artists. They are the Belgians of this controversy, trampled by armies heading someplace else."
Example
More examples"The thumping bands, the badges, the pretty girls and all the time-honored foofaraw failed to charge up the Republican batteries to the sparking point. The great engine just would not turn over — at the start."
Etymology
First attested in the 1930s, of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to French fanfaron (“boasting”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.