rumor
Pluralrumors
UK spellingrumour
Pluralrumors
Formsrumors, rumoring, rumored
- 1A claim of doubtful accuracy from no reliable source, or such talk in general, usually spread by word of mouth.
A rumor circulated online that the festival had been canceled.
Investors panicked when rumors of bankruptcy began to spread.
Similarreport, story, whisper, tale
Note
Behind the word is noise. Latin rūmor meant "common talk," and the deeper root meant "to shout, to roar," which also explains the old "din" meaning. The countable claim still sounds like a crowd: a rumor goes round, and the adjectives it attracts are harsh ones, such as vile and vicious. Pair it with a verb of motion, like going round or spreading, when the point is that nobody knows where it started.
- 2To spread gossip or unverified claims about someone or something.
Critics rumor a rift among the band members.
The press rumored his resignation weeks before it happened.
Note
A verb that lives almost entirely in the passive. Someone is rumored to be leaving, or a deal is rumored to be close. The natural pattern is be rumored followed by to and an infinitive. Active uses with a named subject are possible but uncommon, and they read as stiffer than the passive. The regular forms rumored and rumoring follow the noun's US spelling.
- 3Word, report, or news of events, considered as information passing about in general.
Rumor of victory spread from town to town after the battle.
It stands a city aloof. There hath been no rumour of it—I alone have dreamed of it, and I may not be sure that my dreams are true.
1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the GodsNote
An older, neutral word for news. Here rumor carries no suspicion, only the fact that word has traveled. It is uncountable and usually takes of, as in rumor of victory. Lord Dunsany's Time and the Gods (1906) uses it for archaic color, describing a city of which there has been no rumor. Outside deliberately old-fashioned prose, readers will hear the doubtful claim instead.
Less common meanings
- 4The fame or reputation a person enjoys; the public regard attaching to one's name.
Note
Latin rūmor meant "common talk," and fame is what common talk says about a person. That is the logic of this long-dead meaning. It turns up only in old texts, where a person's rumor is their name in the world rather than a story about them. In modern writing, use fame or reputation instead, or the word will be read as gossip.
- 5A confused loud noise; the clamor, din, or outcry raised by a crowd of people.
A great rumor of voices arose as the gates were thrown open.
Over the rumor of the marketplace, no single voice could be heard.
Note
The sound sits closest to the word's roots: the Indo-European root behind it meant "to shout, to roar." In this obsolete sense, rumor names the noise of many voices, not what they say. It is a din or outcry rather than a report. Read it as clamor when you meet it in older writing, but don't revive it, since a modern reader will hear only the story.
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English rumour, borrowed from Old French rumeur, from Latin rūmor ("common talk"), which ultimately goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃rewH- ("to shout, to roar").