Boffo
What it means
Highly successful and enthusiastically received, especially in entertainment.
Reach for it when using show-business slang for strong audience success
The small comedy opened to a boffo weekend at the neighborhood theater.
Words to choose between 5
| playful |
|
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm | |
| professional | |
| literary |
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playful
smash
Fits when a production becomes an emphatic popular success
Careful Smash is a noun or attributive slang term and may feel abrupt in formal prose.
-
everyday
Fits when popular reception is clear and concise
Careful Hit can describe moderate success and says little about critical quality.
-
warm
crowd-pleasing
Fits when the audience's enjoyment is the main strength
Careful Crowd-pleasing can imply safe choices rather than genuine excellence.
-
professional
Fits when achievement of the intended result is enough
Careful Successful lacks any sense of audience excitement or commercial scale.
-
literary
Fits when the reception feels victorious after risk or struggle
Careful Triumphant is too elevated for routine ticket sales.
Opposites 3
- flop
- poorly received
- unsuccessful
Common phrases 3
-
boffo performance
The understudy gave a boffo performance on opening night.
-
boffo opening
A boffo opening filled the extra weekend dates.
-
boffo success
The revue became a boffo success through word of mouth.
Usage notes
Keep in mind
Boffo is dated American show-business slang and is rarely appropriate outside playful entertainment writing.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Commander Keane, Australian accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated