Etymology

15 minutes of fame

Today it means: A very short time in the spotlight or brief flurry with fame, after which the person or subject involved is quickly forgotten. Full definition →

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The story

First appears c. 1968, although a use in French appears as early as 1821 in Histoire de l'Assemblée constituante by Charles Lacretelle. Often misattributed to Andy Warhol, in a catalogue of an exhibition of his art in Stockholm: “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.