"ooh la la" meaning in English

See ooh la la in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /ˈuː.læ.læ/ [UK], /ˈuː.læ.lɑː/ [UK], /u.lɑ.ˈlɑ/ [US]
Rhymes: -ɑː Etymology: French oh là là / ouh là là, an exclamation of surprise, concern, or dismay. The French exclamation lacks the connotations of the English, either of snobbery or raciness; these emerged in English owing to stereotypes about the French. Etymology templates: {{uder|en|fr|oh là là}} French oh là là Head templates: {{en-interj}} ooh la la
  1. A rejoinder indicating that the speaker asserts (either reproachfully or jocularly) that the interlocutor (or someone else that they are discussing) is putting on airs; often when the interlocutor has used a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French. Synonyms: oo-la-la Related terms: fancy, highfalutin, hoity-toity, lah-di-dah
    Sense id: en-ooh_la_la-en-intj-B1SPjLCC Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, English undefined derivations, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 79 21 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 83 17 Disambiguation of English undefined derivations: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 86 14 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 76 24
  2. An exclamation of surprise, sometimes with strong sexual connotations.
    Sense id: en-ooh_la_la-en-intj-c53AUlQm

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "oh là là"
      },
      "expansion": "French oh là là",
      "name": "uder"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "French oh là là / ouh là là, an exclamation of surprise, concern, or dismay. The French exclamation lacks the connotations of the English, either of snobbery or raciness; these emerged in English owing to stereotypes about the French.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ooh la la",
      "name": "en-interj"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "83 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English links with manual fragments",
          "parents": [
            "Links with manual fragments",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English undefined derivations",
          "parents": [
            "Undefined derivations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Oh, they were serving croque-monsieurs, now were they? Ooh la la.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rejoinder indicating that the speaker asserts (either reproachfully or jocularly) that the interlocutor (or someone else that they are discussing) is putting on airs; often when the interlocutor has used a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French."
      ],
      "id": "en-ooh_la_la-en-intj-B1SPjLCC",
      "links": [
        [
          "reproach",
          "reproach#English"
        ],
        [
          "jocular",
          "jocular#English"
        ],
        [
          "putting on airs",
          "put on airs#English"
        ],
        [
          "big word",
          "big word#English"
        ],
        [
          "loanword",
          "loanword#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "fancy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "highfalutin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "hoity-toity"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "lah-di-dah"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "word": "oo-la-la"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Ooh la la, monsieur, you do have big muscles after all.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1957, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (lyrics and music), “Wake Up Little Susie”, performed by The Everly Brothers:",
          "text": "Well, what are we gonna tell your mama? / What are we gonna tell your pa? / What are we gonna tell our friends / When they say, \"Ooh la la!\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An exclamation of surprise, sometimes with strong sexual connotations."
      ],
      "id": "en-ooh_la_la-en-intj-c53AUlQm",
      "links": [
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈuː.læ.læ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈuː.læ.lɑː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/u.lɑ.ˈlɑ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ooh la la"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English interjections",
    "English lemmas",
    "English links with manual fragments",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms derived from French",
    "English undefined derivations",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑː",
    "Rhymes:English/ɑː/3 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "oh là là"
      },
      "expansion": "French oh là là",
      "name": "uder"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "French oh là là / ouh là là, an exclamation of surprise, concern, or dismay. The French exclamation lacks the connotations of the English, either of snobbery or raciness; these emerged in English owing to stereotypes about the French.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "ooh la la",
      "name": "en-interj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fancy"
    },
    {
      "word": "highfalutin"
    },
    {
      "word": "hoity-toity"
    },
    {
      "word": "lah-di-dah"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Oh, they were serving croque-monsieurs, now were they? Ooh la la.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rejoinder indicating that the speaker asserts (either reproachfully or jocularly) that the interlocutor (or someone else that they are discussing) is putting on airs; often when the interlocutor has used a big word, especially a loanword that English got from French."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reproach",
          "reproach#English"
        ],
        [
          "jocular",
          "jocular#English"
        ],
        [
          "putting on airs",
          "put on airs#English"
        ],
        [
          "big word",
          "big word#English"
        ],
        [
          "loanword",
          "loanword#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Ooh la la, monsieur, you do have big muscles after all.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1957, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (lyrics and music), “Wake Up Little Susie”, performed by The Everly Brothers:",
          "text": "Well, what are we gonna tell your mama? / What are we gonna tell your pa? / What are we gonna tell our friends / When they say, \"Ooh la la!\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An exclamation of surprise, sometimes with strong sexual connotations."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surprise",
          "surprise#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈuː.læ.læ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈuː.læ.lɑː/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/u.lɑ.ˈlɑ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "oo-la-la"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ooh la la"
}

Download raw JSONL data for ooh la la meaning in English (2.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.