If you say that someone's claims or promises are just hot air, you are criticizing them because they are made mainly to impress people and have no real value or meaning.
[informal, disapproval]
His justification for the merger was just hot air.
I'd come to the conclusion by then that he was all hot air.
Synonyms: empty talk, rant, guff [slang], bombast More Synonyms of hot air
hot air in British English
noun
informal
empty and usually boastful talk
hot air in American English
US, Slang
empty or pretentious talk or writing
hot air
false claims and promises
In a sense, all the rhetoric about heightened co-operation can be seen as just somuch hot air. There are still endless disputes.
Examples of 'hot air' in a sentence
hot air
Most of it is just hot air, since they export far more to us than we do to them.
The Sun (2016)
Most of it is just hot air, since they export far more to us than we do to them.
The Sun (2016)
It helps to up the ante and may be just hot air.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
And it will all be just so much hot air.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
There is a lot of hot air that comes out of that man.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The hot air would come in very handy.
The Sun (2010)
Wind power or just hot air?
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
This is not just hot air.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Yet we need more than just the hot air of Westminster.
The Sun (2011)
Sounds like she's just full of hot air.
The Sun (2016)
It's just hot air and needs exposing as such.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
That's not to say that this hot air has not had an effect.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
I reckon the complaint is just hot air.
The Sun (2008)
Fresh air or Just hot air?
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Our heating system is 37 years old and blows out hot air into just four out of the six rooms in our house.
The Sun (2014)
The hot air balloon pilot says that the headgear comes in handy when putting out the small on-board fires that are an occupational hazard.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
That's just hot air, of course.
The Sun (2015)
Is talk of a Mr Energy just hot air?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Call us naive, but isn't this just hot air?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Beach meltdown with admirable dignity, showing his eagerness to put his troubled past behind him and prove a positive role model is not just hot air.
The Sun (2010)
So why not forget all the hype and hot air and just accept they are already out of the Champions League?
The Sun (2012)
I felt hot air come out so I knew he had breathed for himself.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
In other languages
hot air
British English: hot air NOUN
If you say that someone's claims or promises are just hot air, you are criticizing them because they are made mainly to impress people and have no real value or meaning.
His justification for the merger was just hot air.
American English: hot air
Brazilian Portuguese: fanfarrice
Chinese: 大话
European Spanish: palabrería
French: vent
German: leeres Gerede
Italian: fumo
Japanese: でたらめ
Korean: 허풍
European Portuguese: fanfarrice
Latin American Spanish: palabrerío
(noun)
Definition
empty and usually boastful talk
His justification for the merger was just hot air.
Synonyms
empty talk
rant
guff (slang)
These commercials are all guff.
bombast
There were men aboard who could not tolerate his bombast.
wind
You're just talking a lot of wind.
gas (informal)
verbiage
claptrap (informal)
He talks a lot of pretentious claptrap.
blather
Anyone knows that this is all blather.
bunkum
blether
bosh (informal)
tall talk (informal)
Additional synonyms
in the sense of blather
Anyone knows that this is all blather.
Synonyms
nonsense,
gossip,
chatter,
hot air,
malarkey (informal),
waffle (informal, British),
pap,
bilge (informal),
drivel,
twaddle,
gibberish,
guff (slang),
tattle,
moonshine,
jabbering,
jabber,
verbiage,
gabble,
claptrap (informal),
gobbledegook,
hogwash (informal),
bizzo (Australian, slang),
bull's wool (Australian, New Zealand, slang),
hokum (slang, US, Canadian),
piffle (informal),
poppycock (informal),
inanity,
blether (Scottish),
bunkum or buncombe
in the sense of blether
Definition
foolish talk
Synonyms
jabbering,
pap,
drivel,
twaddle,
gibberish,
moonshine,
jabber,
claptrap (informal),
gobbledegook,
blather
in the sense of bombast
Definition
pompous and flowery language
There were men aboard who could not tolerate his bombast.