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silly season

noun

Definition of silly season

1 : a period (such as late summer) when the mass media often focus on trivial or frivolous matters for lack of major news stories
2 : a period marked by frivolous, outlandish, or illogical activity or behavior
Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about silly season

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Did You Know?

Silly season was coined in the mid-19th century to describe the time when journalists face a bit of a conundrum: Washington is on summer break and European governments are on vacation, but the columns of space newspapers typically devote to politics must still be filled - hence stories about beating the heat and how celebrities are also managing to do so. The idea is comical, really, since there's always something going on somewhere. P.G. Wodehouse understood the absurdity inherent in the term when he wrote in his 1909 comic novel, The Swoop! or How Clarence Saved English, "It was inevitable, in the height of the Silly Season, that such a topic as the simultaneous invasion of Great Britain by nine foreign powers should be seized upon by the press." Inevitable indeed.

Examples of silly season in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 In a showdown truly worthy of August’s silly season, Trump’s very briefly tenured communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, and the president and his allies have been involved in a fierce insult-fest. — Nr Editors, National Review, "The Week," 22 Aug. 2019 But with it, comes the actualisation of this silly season. — SI.com, "9 Premier League Signings That Are Definitely 100% Without a Doubt Going to Flop This Season," 20 Aug. 2019 After the way every possible permutation of this topic has been bandied about for the past month — such is the NBA silly season — the answers should not surprise anyone. — Nick Talbot, ExpressNews.com, "Writers’ Roundtable: Are the Spurs still a playoff team after this offseason?," 20 July 2019 Season 6 arrives, after the slow and often silly season 5, with the characters being moved to a maximum-security prison after that whole riot thing. — Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, "What’s coming to TV this summer? Plenty.," 12 June 2018 The podcast won't stay weekly through the silly season. — Nick Baumgardner, Detroit Free Press, "The Michigan Rant podcast: Answering your questions," 21 May 2018 All part of the equation in the NFL Draft silly season. — Paul Dehner Jr., Cincinnati.com, "BX: Why the Cincinnati Bengals have Louisville QB Lamar Jackson visiting," 16 Apr. 2018 After that, the silly season begins, with every politician focusing on the midterm elections. — Alan S. Blinder, WSJ, "Pols Use Economics the Way Drunks Use Lampposts," 26 Mar. 2018 After the way every possible permutation of this topic has been bandied about for the past month — such is the NBA silly season — the answers should not surprise anyone. — Nick Talbot, ExpressNews.com, "Writers’ Roundtable: Are the Spurs still a playoff team after this offseason?," 20 July 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'silly season.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of silly season

1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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