Meanings
plural blurbs
- A short description of a book, film, or other work, written and used for promotional purposes.
In a few weeks, blurbs would come back; a few, or many, depending on the book. There were certain writers we knew were always good for a blurb: Louis Untermeyer would always come through — poetry, fiction, humor — whatever, he'd send a well‐turned commendation.
1978 July 23, William Cole, “The Blurb and I”, in The New York Times
present singular third person blurbs · participle present blurbing · participle past blurbed · past blurbed
- transitiveTo write or quote in a blurb.
When Rene Rodriguez of The Miami Herald blogged about having seen and loved “The Departed” in Toronto in a supposedly private screening last fall, Warner Brothers “scolded me very strongly,” he said, “but they still blurbed a line from my blog in their opening ad.”
2007 July 4, David M. Halbfinger, “Appearing Way Before the Film: The Review”, in New York Times - transitiveTo supply with a blurb.
The unseemly business of book blurbing has been source of both humor and concern in the pages of The New Yorker.
2012 April 17, Jon Michaud, “Blurb This!”, in The New Yorker1 more example
Edward R. Murrow and other leading radio personalities blurbed the book, published in 1950 by Oxford University Press, and Siepmann thanked Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog in his acknowledgments.
2015, Peter Simonson, David W. Park, The International History of Communication Study, page 268
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna promotional statement (as found on the dust jackets of books)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Coined by American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907 on a dust jacket at a trade association dinner. The dust jacket said “YES, this is a “BLURB”!” and featured a (fictitious) “Miss Belinda Blurb” shown calling out, described as “in the act of blurbing”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans blakerteks, flapteks
- blakerteksa short description of a book, film, or other work
- flapteksa short description of a book, film, or other work
Arabic تَقْرِيظ
- تَقْرِيظ (taqrīẓ)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Bulgarian анота́ция
- анота́ция (anotácija)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Catalan sinopsi
- sinopsia short description of a book, film, or other work
Chinese Mandarin 大作廣告 /大作广告
- 大作廣告 /大作广告 (dàzuò guǎnggào)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Czech propagační text, anotace
- propagační texta short description of a book, film, or other work
- anotacea short description of a book, film, or other work
Dutch flaptekst
- flapteksta short description of a book, film, or other work
Finnish takakansiteksti, mainosteksti
- takakansitekstia short description of a book, film, or other work
- mainostekstia short description of a book, film, or other work
French quatrième de couverture
- quatrième de couverturea short description of a book, film, or other work
German Klappentext, Einbandtext
- Klappentexta short description of a book, film, or other work
- Einbandtexta short description of a book, film, or other work
- Umschlagtexta short description of a book, film, or other work
Hungarian fülszöveg
- fülszövega short description of a book, film, or other work
Italian fascetta pubblicitaria
- fascetta pubblicitariaa short description of a book, film, or other work
Japanese 宣伝文
- 宣伝文 (sendenbun)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Norwegian brødtekst
- brødteksta short description of a book, film, or other work
Persian تقریظ
- تقریظ (taqriz)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Polish blurb
- blurba short description of a book, film, or other work
Portuguese sinopse, resumo
- sinopsea short description of a book, film, or other work
- resumoa short description of a book, film, or other work
- síntesea short description of a book, film, or other work
Russian аннота́ция, рекла́ма
- аннота́ция (annotácija)a short description of a book, film, or other work
- рекла́ма (rekláma)a short description of a book, film, or other work
Spanish sinopsis, resumen
- sinopsisa short description of a book, film, or other work
- resumena short description of a book, film, or other work
- síntesisa short description of a book, film, or other work
Swedish anmälan, baksidestext
- anmälana short description of a book, film, or other work
- baksidestexta short description of a book, film, or other work
- puffa short description of a book, film, or other work
Welsh broliant
- brolianta short description of a book, film, or other work
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with blurb
All rhymes →Cite this entry
blurb. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blurb
“blurb.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blurb. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blurb,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blurb.
Source: blurb on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.