noun / verb
blurb
BLURB/blɜːrb/
A short promotional description or the act of writing one.
The book’s back cover carries a short promotional blurb.
Etymology
Blurb originally mocked excessive praise on book jackets and was probably derisively imitative. The modern promotional description retains that advertising function without necessarily carrying the original mockery.
In context
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is blurbed by Patrick Rothfuss and the blurb is I wish I had written this book.
More examples
- She wrote a short blurb for the exhibition.
- A well-known novelist blurbed the new book.
- The catalog included a promotional blurb.
Forms
blurb · blurbs · blurbed · blurbing
Similar words
- description
- Description is general explanatory copy; a blurb is short and promotional.
- endorsement
- An endorsement recommends something; a blurb may describe it without an explicit recommendation.