silly season

noun

1

: a period (such as late summer) when the mass media often focus on trivial or frivolous matters for lack of major news stories

2

: a period marked by frivolous, outlandish, or illogical activity or behavior

Did you know?

Silly season was coined in the 19th century to describe the time when journalists face a bit of a conundrum: Washington is on summer break and European governments are on vacation, but the columns of space newspapers typically devote to politics must still be filled—hence, stories about beating the heat and how celebrities are also managing to do so. The idea is comical, really, since there's always something going on somewhere. P.G. Wodehouse understood the absurdity inherent in the term when he wrote in his 1909 comic novel, The Swoop! or How Clarence Saved England, "It was inevitable, in the height of the Silly Season, that such a topic as the simultaneous invasion of Great Britain by nine foreign powers should be seized upon by the press." Inevitable indeed.

Examples of silly season in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Another subplot in a silly season that has already proved anything is possible. —Luke Smith, The Athletic, 23 Apr. 2024

Who wore shame best this silly season, there’s still months to go to November. —Krista Kafer, The Denver Post, 12 June 2024

This year, the silly season got underway well before the first of the year, and it's been sillier than most. —Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 5 May 2024

This is college basketball’s silly season, with players jumping to greener pastures, literally, amid NIL gone wild and a federal court injunction temporarily blocking NCAA limitations on multiple transfers. —Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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