word of mouth
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: - Information or news that is passed from one person to another through spoken communication, rather than through writing or broadcasting. It refers to the informal, person-to-person transmission of ideas, recommendations, or news.
Usage
"Word of mouth" is used as an uncountable noun. It typically functions as the subject or object of a sentence and is often used with prepositions like by, through, or from to describe the method of transmission. - The success of the small restaurant relied entirely on word of mouth. - The product became popular through word of mouth alone. - We heard about the job opening from a friend, by word of mouth.
Examples
- Positive word of mouth is the best advertising a company can get.
- The film gained a large audience due to strong word of mouth.
- In the days before the internet, news traveled slowly by word of mouth.
Advanced Usage
- "Word-of-mouth" (Hyphenated form): Used as an adjective before a noun to describe something that is spread or promoted through oral communication.
- The cafe benefited from tremendous word-of-mouth advertising.
- It was a word-of-mouth phenomenon.
Variants and Related Words
- Gossip (n): Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as true. (While "gossip" can be spread by word of mouth, it often has a more negative, rumor-based connotation.)
- Hearsay (n): Information received from other people that one cannot adequately substantiate; rumor.
Synonyms
- Oral communication
- Grapevine (as in "heard it through the grapevine")
- Viva voce
Related Phrases
- Spread by word of mouth: The most common phrase describing how information is disseminated.
- The secret recipe was spread by word of mouth through generations of the family.
- Word-of-mouth marketing/referral: A specific business term for encouraging customers to recommend a product or service to others.
- Their most effective growth strategy has been word-of-mouth referral.
Noun
- gossip spread by spoken communication
- the news of their affair was spread by word of mouth