fanfare

/ˌfænˈfɛər/

/ˈfænfɛ/

Other forms: fanfares

Fanfare is a loud, proud burst of something to get attention. If you open up a carpet store with one of those sky-sweeping lights, lots of balloons, and a brass band, you’re doing it with great fanfare.

Originally fanfare meant a short burst of music played by trumpeters, usually when someone important entered a room. But these days we describe anything as fanfare that has the same feeling as a burst of trumpets. If you’re a TV executive with a new show you think is going to be a big hit, roll it out with fanfare–—ad campaigns, billboards, celebrity parties!

Definitions of fanfare

1. noun

   (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments
   “her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare”

   synonyms: flourish, tucket

   type of:

   air, line, melodic line, melodic phrase, melody, strain, tune

   a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence
2. noun

   a gaudy outward display
   synonyms: flash, ostentation

   types:

   bluster, bravado

   a swaggering show of courage

   exhibitionism

   extravagant and conspicuous behavior intended to attract attention to yourself

   ritz

   ostentatious display of elegance, originating from chain of hotels founded by Cesar Ritz

   splurge

   an ostentatious display (of effort or extravagance etc.)

   pedantry

   an ostentatious and inappropriate display of learning

   type of:

   display

   exhibiting openly in public view