Razzamatazz

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A noisy and flashy display designed to attract attention and impress others
2. An energetic and ostentatious performance or event full of excitement and flair
3. Lively and extravagant activity or spectacle created to dazzle and captivate an audience

Etymology: Razzmatazz is American slang that first appeared in print in the 1920s, and it is almost certainly an invented, imitative word rather than one built from older roots. Its earliest sense was not about spectacle at all but about playing a shuffle or a trick: the term was used in the 1920s to mean a flashy, showy act, and the blend of "razz" (to tease or deride, itself from American slang) and "jazz" or "dazzle" is often suggested as its source. Those links are plausible but not firmly documented, so the sound itself is doing most of the work, with its bouncing syllables echoing the commotion it describes. Its meaning drifted in the years that followed, from a sort of sleight-of-hand or bluster toward the sense of glittering, noisy display that entertainment and advertising borrowed for stage shows and promotions. The word stayed closely tied to American popular culture, especially vaudeville, dance, and the brash entertainment of the Jazz Age.

Synonyms: showmanship, spectacle, fanfare, hype, pizzazz