variants
also poo-bah
as in heavyweight
one of high position or importance within a group
an annual clambake that attracts political pooh-bahs from around the state
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Recent Examples of pooh-bah
This kind of surgical enhancement can still be frowned upon in the restoration world, decried as fakery by the pooh-bahs of all-original-everything.
—
Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 13 July 2024
To Richardson-Merrell’s pooh-bahs, her scrutiny seemed like the dilatory work of someone who didn’t know how the game was played.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Like Joe Rogan, the carnivorous pooh-bah of this intellectual space, Brand appeared interested in teaching a certain kind of man how to be a certain kind of man, mining the tension between think-for-yourself riffs and listen-to-me conclusions.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
But the pooh-bahs in Brussels didn’t exactly rush to say yes.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 13 July 2024
To Richardson-Merrell’s pooh-bahs, her scrutiny seemed like the dilatory work of someone who didn’t know how the game was played.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2024
Like Joe Rogan, the carnivorous pooh-bah of this intellectual space, Brand appeared interested in teaching a certain kind of man how to be a certain kind of man, mining the tension between think-for-yourself riffs and listen-to-me conclusions.
—Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, 13 Nov. 2023
But the pooh-bahs in Brussels didn’t exactly rush to say yes.
—Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, 25 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pooh-bah
Noun
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The Residences at Sloan’s Curve is immediately south of casino-and-resort magnate Steve Wynn’s estate.—
Darrell Hofheinz,
USA TODAY,
15 Feb. 2025
-
Last month, a Brooklyn real estate magnate connected to Turkish officials admitted to orchestrating straw donations towards Adams’ mayoral campaign in a plea deal believed to require his cooperation at trial.—
Chris Sommerfeldt,
New York Daily News,
11 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Billionaire business tycoon Elon Musk suggested that the International Space Station should be scrapped sooner rather than later.—
Alex Nitzberg,
Fox News,
21 Feb. 2025
-
Washington today echoes with so many uncomfortable reminders of that transitional moment in Moscow—the sudden, fearful silence of critics who had previously spoken out, the business tycoons rushing to kiss the President’s ring, the lying and reality distortions to fit the official narrative.—
Susan B. Glasser,
The New Yorker,
20 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The industry legend and king of deadpan humor accidentally crashed Jessica Williams’s big moment at the SAG Awards, and their interaction about it was just delightful.—
Elizabeth Logan,
Glamour,
24 Feb. 2025
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This year's drama king has been crowned at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards.—
Julia Moore,
People.com,
24 Feb. 2025
Noun
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All the while, the heroic couple was dogged by not just a team of lovebird assassins, but an inscrutable bunch of White House bigwigs.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
21 Jan. 2025
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Meta was briefly the bigwig in the AR/VR space 10 years ago when Meta (then Facebook) bought the VR company Oculus.—
Boone Ashworth,
WIRED,
25 Sep. 2024
Articles Related to pooh-bah
Cite this Entry
“Pooh-bah.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pooh-bah. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
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