Blockbuster
What it means
A film, book, event, or product that achieves exceptional popular success.
Reach for it when celebrating unusually large reach and commercial impact
The independent studio produced a summer blockbuster on a modest budget.
Words to choose between 6
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday |
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| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal |
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playful
megahit
Fits when very large audience success needs contemporary commercial language
Careful A dignified cultural work needs less promotional wording.
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playful
smash
Fits when immediate emphatic success suits an energetic voice
Careful Smash is highly informal and can suggest sudden fashion rather than lasting reach.
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everyday
Fits when broad success or popularity is the simple point
Careful Hit can describe a modest success and gives no sense of exceptional scale.
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warm
sensation
Fits when public excitement and attention spread rapidly
Careful A sensation may attract curiosity without earning strong sales.
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professional
phenomenon
Fits when success becomes a wider social or cultural event
Careful Phenomenon overstates a work that merely sold extremely well.
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formal
commercial triumph
Fits when strong revenue and successful execution both deserve emphasis
Careful The phrase excludes influential work that reached millions without commercial aims.
Opposites 3
- flop
- commercial failure
- dud
Common phrases 3
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summer blockbuster
The summer blockbuster kept the town's last cinema open.
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box-office blockbuster
A box-office blockbuster funded three smaller documentaries.
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blockbuster success
The exhibit became a blockbuster success without extending its opening hours.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Flame, not lame, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC0 Updated