Definitions
Wiktionary
- v. idiomatic To undergo a storyline development which heralds a fundamental and generally disappointing change in direction.
- v. more generally To experience a decline in quality, appeal, popularity, etc.
Etymologies
- From "Hollywood (Part 3)", a 1977 episode of the TV series Happy Days, in which the character Fonzie jumped over a shark on waterskis, after which (supposedly) the show bore no similarity to its original form. (Wiktionary)
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jump the shark’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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set phasers to...
you name the setting
I've tuned mine to be gentler and kinder
following suit is not mandatory but would be appreciatedcoddle, confuse, flummox, tap, furrow, instigate, invigorate, punnify, logical, must... act... be..., bowdlerise, laughing gas and 435 more...
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Might as well jump
Words or phrases with "jump" in them (or with the letters j-u-m-p, in that order).
jump, jumper, Jump, jumps, long jump, jump start, jumpstart, jump-start, jumper cable, jumper cables, Jump Around, jumping spider and 17 more...
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verbs
recidivate, ampliate, prolate, liming, assoilzie, obtest, mazarine, minify, deprehend, dry-beat, defease, smit and 8 more...
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Americanisms (mostly...)
Expressions in modern hip parlance that can sound pretentious if not delivered with full confidence (even if you are not 100% sure that your use is nuanced correctly).
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that's just beastly!
cat-o-nine-tails, snake in the grass, puppy love, white elephant, crocodile tears, monkey business, keep the wolf fro..., culture vulture, black sheep of th..., scapegoat, ugly duckling, swan song and 260 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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Recent additions
Relatively new coinages, or adaptations of previously existing words.
firewall, bioterrorism, bling-bling, bluetooth, bobo, game face, microdermabrasion, metrosexual, microarray, sex worker, stained-glass cei..., stalkerazzi and 99 more...
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beastly verbs
someone must already have this list?
squirrel away, worm it out of so..., pony up, fish for compliments, weasel out, badger, outfox, horse around, hound, cow, chicken out, goose and 99 more...
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neologish
neologisms, etc.
pop culture that has invaded my brain.ishtar, d'oh, jump the shark, truthiness, ginormous, muggle, craptacular, spam, cyberspace, email, excellent, boo yah and 20 more...
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Phrases
jump the shark, nuke the fridge, in spades, to wit, go to town, could have knocke...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jump the shark.
EditorMark I agree with Emily about the descent into commonplaceness. It's typified by trying to hold on to a theme that once resonated but has since run its course. On Twitter, @willf suggested "jump the shark is the point where it is obvious that something has become irreparably bad."
Aug 5, 2011
earkin In the TV/storyline sense, I always thought "jump the shark" had a "Hail Mary" connotation as well, a desperate cry for attention that leads to a rapid deterioration.
But then colloquially, it might just be used as "over the hill" or reaching the tipping point from an upswing in hipness to a descent into commonplaceness, e.g. "'Cougars' have really jumped the shark now that they are featured in Ocean's Thirteen." Aug 5, 2011