Meaning of hot air | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Air that has been heated, especially so as to function as the lifting agent of a hot-air balloon.
   uncountable
2. Empty, confused, or exaggerated talk lacking meaning or substance; bluster.
   idiomatic, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“The balloon was equipped with a burner to create⟳ hot air for lift⟳.”

“"You'll never get⟳ anywhere so long as youse trail with that reform⟳ bunch. It's all hot air and tomfool theory."”

“"You give⟳ me a lot of hot air about your conscience. Why don't you get⟳ a soap-box and preach on the street-corners?"”

“Some of the steam in Washington rises from real issues, but a lot is the hot air of partisan politics.”

“Klein diagnoses impressively what hasn’t worked. No more claptrap about fracked gas as a bridge to renewables. Enough already of the international summit meetings that produce⟳ sirocco-quality hot air, and nonbinding agreements that bind⟳ us all to more emissions.”

“I'm afraid I must disagree with Sir Michael Holden, for whom I have⟳ enormous respect⟳, when he wrote in RAIL 977 that Transport⟳ Secretary Mark⟳ Harper's keynote speech for the George Bradshaw lecture⟳ in February was "a breath of fresh air". More like⟳ hot air to me, given Harper's emphasis on the private sector through both a kind of renewed franchising model⟳ and open⟳ access.”

CEFR level