Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
hokey [hoh-kee] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for hokey on Thesaurus.com adjective, hok·i·er, hok·i·est.
- overly sentimental; mawkish: Two glasses of wine and he gets unbearably hokey; it’s hard to believe he’s a highly paid executive!
- obviously contrived, especially to win popular appeal or support; phony: The hokey stories of his impoverished childhood always surface at election time.
Origin of hokey 1945–50; irregular hok(um) + -y1 Related formshok·ey·ness, hok·i·ness, noun Related Words for hokey banal, commonplace, dull, feeble, hackneyed, mawkish, old-fashioned, sentimental, shopworn, stale, trite Examples from the Web for hokey Contemporary Examples of hokey
There was the lifeless and hokey Management ($934,000 box office) and Love Happens ($22 million).
Jennifer Aniston’s New Movie Sucks. What’s She Doing Wrong?
Kevin Fallon
August 7, 2013
She jumped up and down and did the hokey pokey and shouted to the rooftops from it.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s Tearful Last ‘The View,’ and Why We’ll Miss Her
Kevin Fallon
July 10, 2013
With their hokey humor and easily solved crises, those shows led straight into the era of Ellen and Will & Grace.
How TV Killed the Republican Party’s Family Values
Jonathan D. Fitzgerald
November 15, 2012
Commenting on his vanilla—some might even say “hokey”—demeanor, my wife said he reminded her of the father on Leave It to Beaver.
Face It, Republicans, ‘Bazooka Joe’ Biden Won the VP Debate
Matt Latimer
October 12, 2012
We used to close our meetings with a hokey phrase: “May the great master of all Scouts be with us till we meet again.”
Take That, Boy Scouts: I’m Rejecting My Eagle Award
Aaron Becker
August 9, 2012
Historical Examples of hokey
Hokey Pokey took it with many thanks, and then went on his way.
The Pig Brother and Other Fables and Stories
Laura E. Richards
By the Hokey; if Sally Jones is’nt real grit, there’s no snakes.
Various
I saw him some months back down at Sawyer’s Forks, and by hokey!
Lawrence J. Leslie
“By hokey, I don’t like the looks o’ that,” said the old man, as he observed the armed band approaching his lonely cabin.
John Roy Musick
He had scarcely opened the door when he started back in surprise, exclaiming, “By hokey, if there isn’t a basket on the steps!”
Horatio Alger
British Dictionary definitions for hokey hokey adjective slang, mainly US and Canadian
- corny; sentimental
- contrived; phoney
Word Origin for hokey C20: from hokum Word Origin and History for hokey adj.