Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A free-lance photographer that specializes in following and photographing celebrities such as movie stars, especially to obtain candid photographs in private situations.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A freelance photographer who sells photographs of celebrities to the media, especially one who pursues celebrities and attempts to obtain candid photographs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a freelance photographer who pursues celebrities trying to take candid photographs of them to sell to newspapers or magazines

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Paparazzo, the surname of a character typifying such a photographer in the film La Dolce Vita (1960) by Federico Fellini.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian paparazzo

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Examples

  • Both documentaries use the same footage from Fellini's La Dolce Vita to explain the origin of the term paparazzo (it's a character's name).

    Men.Style.com: Latest Features and Articles 2010

  • The mafia infiltration and grubby money-laundering is a far cry from the hedonistic era portrayed in Fellini's 1960 classic, which starred the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni as a society reporter and gave the world the word 'paparazzo'.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Nick Squires 2011

  • Galella has never shied away from being called a paparazzo, derived from the Italian word for mosquito.

    Screen News 2008

  • Galella has never shied away from being called a paparazzo, derived from the Italian word for mosquito.

    Screen News 2008

  • Galella has never shied away from being called a paparazzo, derived from the Italian word for mosquito.

    News24 2008

  • You may not know this but the word paparazzo is actually a name.

    Snarklings Wrestle the Snarkomter, bout 46 Miss Snark 2005

  • Galella, 79, whose life is examined in Leon Gast's "Smash His Camera", is old enough to have been working when the term "paparazzo" -- the sound in Italian made by a buzzing mosquito

    Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2010

  • Galella, 79, whose life is examined in Leon Gast's "Smash His Camera", is old enough to have been working when the term "paparazzo" -- the sound in Italian made by a buzzing mosquito

    Latest News - Yahoo!7 News 2010

  • Galella, 79, whose life is examined in Leon Gast's "Smash His Camera", is old enough to have been working when the term "paparazzo" -- the sound in Italian made by a buzzing mosquito -- was coined to name a celebrity-chasing photographer character in the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita".

    Moneycontrol Top Headlines 2010

  • And Wednesday, October 1st - here ` s the kicker - the 911 caller is identified as a paparazzo named Jill Ishkanian.

    CNN Transcript Oct 2, 2008 2008

Comments

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  • Singular of the we-love-to-hate-'em 'paparazzi'.

    January 5, 2007