noun Informal.
- showiness, brilliance, or virtuosity in technique or effect, often without concomitant substance or worth; flashy theatricality: The razzle-dazzle of the essay’s metaphors cannot disguise its shallowness of thought.
- Chiefly Football. deceptive action typically consisting of a series of complex maneuvers, as a double reverse or hand-off, usually executed in a flashy manner: a team relying more on power and speed than razzle-dazzle.
- confusion, commotion, or riotous gaiety.
adjective
- impressively opulent or decorative, especially in a new way; showy; flashy; eye-catching: a shopping center lined with razzle-dazzle boutiques.
- energetic, dynamic, or innovative: razzle-dazzle technology; a razzle-dazzle sales pitch.
noun
- slang noisy or showy fuss or activity
1886, American English slang, varied reduplication of dazzle (q.v.).
My confrère, The Chevalier, last month gave a new name to the scarfs of disjointed pattern when he called them the razzle-dazzle. The name was evidently a hit of the most patent character, for in several avenue and Broadway stores the clerks have thrown out a display of broken figures before me and explained that the ruling style at present was the razzle-dazzle, and the word seems to have been equally effective with the public, for when it is quoted by the live salesman, the customer, I am told is at once interested and caught by it. [“Clothier and Furnisher” magazine, Jan. 1889]
Meaning “state of confusion” is from 1889.