Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat.
- v. To seethe with anger or indignation.
- v. To be very hot: a summer day that sizzled.
- n. A hissing sound.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make a hissing or sputtering sound, as a liquid when effervescing or acted on directly by heat; make a sound as of frying.
- To dry and shrivel up with hissing by the action of fire.
- To be very hot, as if hissing or shriveling.
- To dry or burn with or as if with a hissing sound: sometimes followed by up.
- n. A hissing or sputtering sound.
- n. Extreme heat, as of a summer day.
Wiktionary
- v. to make the sound of water hitting a hot surface
- v. to be exciting or dazzling
- n. countable the sound of water hitting a hot surface
- n. uncountable zing, zip, or pizazz; excitement.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U. S. To make a hissing sound; to fry, or to dry and shrivel up, with a hissing sound.
- n. Prov. Eng. & Colloq. U. S. A hissing sound, as of something frying over a fire.
WordNet 3.0
- v. make a sound like frying fat
- v. seethe with deep anger or resentment
- n. a sizzling noise
- v. burn or sear with a sizzling sound
Etymologies
- Perhaps frequentative of Middle English sissen, to hiss, of imitative origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“*Thud… sizzle sizzle* …aifink yew has da freakwencees awf jes a itteh bitteh bit…. jes a guess doh…”
Mak it like dis. - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Sci-fi tends to glamorize laser weapons (pew pew, you're dead), when in reality the experts say getting "shot" with will probably feel more like napalm (* sizzle sizzle*, protracted death).”
“Clearly, the one with the most pregame sizzle is option C.,”
“Their products don't have "sizzle" -- unlike complex financial instruments like collateralized mortgage obligations, initially created for the defunct Freddie Mac.”
“The presentations are followed by a 30-second "sizzle" - industry jargon for those all-important Saturday-morning commercials.”
“This teaser trailer should more accurately be called a sizzle reel, and you'll understand why once you've watched it, so without further delay, fire this baby up!”
Must Watch: Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona Teaser Trailer « FirstShowing.net
“The sizzle is the key thing, not the steak, and if the steak is rancid you try a tastier sauce.”
“I do enjoy different "sizzle" levels, and, as others have said, it all depends on the book itself, how well it's done.”
Angels' Blood Countdown: Jasmine Haynes - The first two Fortune Hunter books
“PR: It's funny but I've been working with Paul Simon recently, and I reminded him there was a certain "sizzle" cymbal that could be placed where "air" would be created, where the mind and emotions could feel it.”
Mike Ragogna: Still Awesome After All These Years: An Interview With Producer Phil Ramone
“But Obama is keenly aware that in the end it's not just the "sizzle," it's the steak.”
Robert Creamer: The First 100 Days -- How Obama Scores on the Nine Qualities of Leadership
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sizzle’.
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Of Imitative Origin
Words formed in imitation of the sound of the things they signify.
bawl, biff, blizzard, blob, blooper, bob, boff, bomb, bonkers, boo, borborygmus, brouhaha and 148 more...
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Onomatopoetic
words (seemingly) formed in imitation of a natural sound
plash, guff, woof, splash, crash, pow, crack, bang, whoosh, whizz, whallop, fizz and 116 more...
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Sounds
words that describe sound
atchoo, atishoo, babble, bam, bay, beep, blast, blather, bleat, bleep, blip, bong and 242 more...
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sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
( randomness, descriptive )sigh, murmur, whisper, whir, rustle, patter, hum, snap, hiss(sss), crackle, bleat, peep and 185 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 125 more...
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Fire
Words describing or related to fire.
burn, blaze, brand, sizzle, scorch, char, crisp, crackle, kindle, flame, inferno, pyre and 27 more...
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onomatopoeias (2 syllable)
2 syllable words that mean what they sound like. (dictionaried or un-dictionaried | onomatopoeic in nature)
onomatopoeias (1 syllable) | onomatopoeias (3+ syllables)
( op...wobble, sputter, spatter, flutter, giggle, hiccup, mumble, murmur, jangle, rattle, sizzle, rustle and 21 more...
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how to cook
paneer, kaju, demarara, garam masala, asafoetida, green gram, gram flour, sago, mirin, phyllo, seitan, soya and 21 more...
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[Open] Frequentative
“A verb which denotes the frequent occurrence or repetition of an action, as . . . waggle from wag.” — Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
Other examples include bobble (bob), bustle (b...dartle, stutter, agitate, dabble, waggle, aid, argue, daunt, expect, excite, espouse, dictate and 77 more...
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rodrigo's list
aspidistra, mosaic, murmur, sussuration, clap, assiduous, hasp, clench, rhythm, solemn, seldom, slash and 18 more...
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Onomatopoeia
A collection of soundwords
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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kat's words
ecumenical, cacophony, clatter, marimba, bamboo, saffron, slice, mercurial, pomegranate, cranky, slipshod, scritch and 511 more...
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words i love
fuss, rhythm, obfuscate, sumptuous, decadence, ethereal, peach, stingy, muscle, wrapper, corpus, dastardly deed and 90 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sizzle.
oroboros Hey! Word it up, dude. Oct 17, 2011
oroboros "We sell the sizzle, not the steak." Jan 20, 2007