Meanings
- idiomaticpluralplural onlyA very short time in the spotlight or brief flurry with fame, after which the person or subject involved is quickly forgotten.
After just a month on television, this ordinary chap from Catford, south London, was an overnight superstar, ready to milk his 15 minutes of fame.
2016 January 31, Anna Williamson, “The flip side of instant fame”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 23 Mar 20164 more examples
[…] Paula [Jones] was, even to her lawyers, a loose cannon—as prepared to risk her marriage and her well-being to get the president to confess his original sin as she was intent on making big money and getting her fifteen minutes of fame.
2007, Nigel Hamilton, Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency, New York: PublicAffairs, →ISBN, page 274In the next chapter, we'll meet twenty-five hopefuls who have already begun to experience their fifteen minutes of fame as a result of exposure on YouTube.
2008, Frederick Levy, 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming A Star In The YouTube Revolution, Alpha Books, →ISBNBy the time we went to Central Park, someone walking in the park said they had just seen us on Fox that morning. It was like being a rock star with a whole fifteen minutes of fame. So it was fun for a time.
2014, Kip Harding, Mona Lisa Harding, chapter 19, in The Brainy Bunch […] , Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 188One day in early January 1970, Michael James Brody Jr. stepped off a Pan Am jet at John F. Kennedy Airport and into what would be one of the new decade’s shortest, strangest 15 minutes of fame.
2022 April 27, Jennifer Schuessler, “An Heir, a $25 Million Giveaway and 30,000 Unopened Letters”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2022Synonyms: 15 minutes, fifteen minutes, moment in the sun
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA very short time in the spotlight or brief flurry with fame, after which the person or subject involved is quickly forgotten.
Origin
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.”
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans vyftien minute van roem
- vyftien minute van roemfifteen minutes of fame
Chinese Mandarin 短暫出名 /短暂出名, 大出風頭 /大出风头
- 短暫出名 /短暂出名 (duǎnzàn chūmíng)fifteen minutes of fame
- 大出風頭 /大出风头 (dà chū fēngtou)fifteen minutes of fame
Esperanto dek kvin minutoj da gloro
- dek kvin minutoj da glorofifteen minutes of fame
Finnish viisitoista minuuttia kuuluisuutta
- viisitoista minuuttia kuuluisuuttafifteen minutes of fame
French heure de gloire, quart d'heure de gloire
- heure de gloirefifteen minutes of fame
- quart d'heure de gloirefifteen minutes of fame
German fünfzehn Minuten Ruhm
- fünfzehn Minuten Ruhmfifteen minutes of fame
Greek δεκαπέντε λεπτά δημοσιότητας
- δεκαπέντε λεπτά δημοσιότητας (dekapénte leptá dimosiótitas)fifteen minutes of fame
Hebrew חמש עשרה דקות של תהילה
- חמש עשרה דקות של תהילה (khamesh esre dakot shel tehila)fifteen minutes of fame
Hungarian tizenöt perc hírnév
- tizenöt perc hírnévfifteen minutes of fame
Norwegian femten minutters berømmelse
- femten minutters berømmelsefifteen minutes of fame
Polish pięć minut
- pięć minutfifteen minutes of fame
Portuguese quinze minutos de fama
- quinze minutos de famafifteen minutes of fame
Romanian cincisprezece minute de faimă
- cincisprezece minute de faimăfifteen minutes of fame
Russian пятна́дцать мину́т сла́вы
- пятна́дцать мину́т сла́вы (pjatnádcatʹ minút slávy)fifteen minutes of fame
Spanish quince minutos de fama, cinco minutos de fama
- quince minutos de famafifteen minutes of fame
- cinco minutos de famafifteen minutes of fame
Swedish femton minuter i rampljuset, femton minuter av berömmelse
- femton minuter i rampljusetfifteen minutes of fame
- femton minuter av berömmelsefifteen minutes of fame
Turkish sabunköpüğü
- sabunköpüğüfifteen minutes of fame
Cite this entry
15 minutes of fame. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/15%20minutes%20of%20fame
“15 minutes of fame.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/15%20minutes%20of%20fame. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “15 minutes of fame,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/15%20minutes%20of%20fame.
Source: 15 minutes of fame on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.