pizzazz
/pɪˈzæz/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.28 in modern English
45
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The show had a lot of pizzazz, with glittering costumes and upbeat music."
- "Pizazz, to quote the editor of the Harvard Lampoon, is an indefinable dynamic quality, the je ne sais quoi of function; as, for instance, adding Scotch puts the pizazz into a drink. Certain clothes have it, too. 1. There's pizazz in this rust evening coat, swinging wide in back, jutting crazily over the shoulders, clasped with a cord at the throat."
- "[Rahiem] Classified as a lover with a certain pizzazz / And you might even call it razzamatazz"
- "Who says a beer can't be exciting, folks. Let me tell you something, folks, this here little can has got more oomph! More pazazz! More body than Mae West any day!"
- "With his miner's helmet in one hand, a white towel in the other, [Mario] Sepúlveda began to dance. He spun with the gusto and pzazz of a huaso, a Chilean cowboy."
- "Driven by legalized gambling, many of the [Las Vegas] strip's motels had morphed into giant hotels with gambling floors and night clubs and surrounded by large parking lots. Closeness to Hollywood (with its fantasy world of entertainment bizazz) influenced strip architecture."
Etymology
Probably originally college or showbusiness slang in the United States, then popularized in the American fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar in the 1930s: see the quotation.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɪˈzæz/
- British English: /pɪˈzæz/