Paparazzi

Pronunciation

• US enPR: päpäʹrätsÄ“ IPA: /ËŒpÉ‘pɑˈɹɑtsi/
• RP IPA: /ËŒpæpəˈɹætsi/

Origin

From Italian paparazzi, plural of paparazzo.

Noun

1. Plural of paparazzo; freelance photographers who sell photographs of celebrities to the media, especially ones who pursue celebrities and attempt to obtain candid photographs.
• 1985, Francis King, One Is a Wanderer: Selected Stories, Hutchinson, ISBN 0091620805, page 312,A number of paparazzi had gate-crashed, as had a famous tennis-player and a couple of pop-singers.
• 2004, Noel Botham, The Murder of Princess Diana, Pinnacle Books, ISBN 0-7860-0700-1, page 168,A number of paparazzi were there to take pictures, clearly having received a further tip-off about the party’s movements.
• 2007, Stanley Hart, "Oh, Brother", in Two Novellas, AuthorHouse, ISBN 1425987087, page 99,“Do you know how many paparazzi stalk those midtown hotels? …”
2. Used as a .
• 1978, Stephen Birmingham, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Grossett & Dunlap, ISBN 0448143062, page 184,The publicity that would ensue from a court battle with someone of Galella’s ilk would only be bad and would convey to Galella a degree of status and importance that this member of the paparazzi didn’t deserve.
• 2005 April, Kathleen O'Reilly, The Diva’s Guide to Selling Your Soul, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 1416516565, page 36,He manages to snag you just when a member of the paparazzi is skulking by, …
• 2007, Chris Rojek, Cultural Studies, Polity, ISBN 0745636837, page 55,The member of the paparazzi is a Weegee-like figure played by Joe Pesci in the film The Public Eye (1992).
3. (nonstandard) A paparazzo.
• 1997, Eeva Joniken and Soile Veijola, "The Disoriented Tourist: The Figuration of the Tourist in Contemporary Cultural Critique", in Chris Rojek and John Urry (eds.), Touring Cultures: Transformations of Travel and Theory, Routledge, 0-415-11125-0, page 46,The job of a paparazzi is, roughly, to ‘reveal the truth’ about the rich and the famous.
• 2000, David Naccache and Michael Tunstall, "How to Explain Side-Channel Leakage to Your Kids", in Çetin K. Koç and Christof Paar (eds.), Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems — CHES 2000 (proceedings), Springer, ISBN 3-540-41455-X, page 229,A paparazzi is investigating the lives of a Royal couple.
• 2005, Jude Idada, "Ouch!", in A Box of Chocolates, Trafford Publishing, ISBN 1412020268, page 221,What if someone I know sees me? Or what if a paparazzi is lurking somewhere?
4. (nonstandard, uncountable) Paparazzi taken as a group.
• 1989, Carol Muske-Dukes, Dear Digby, Viking, ISBN 0670825069, page 148,“Tell Page that PAPARAZZI is here, in my apartment. And then tell her that their offices are right across from us …”
• 2001, Geert Lovink, "The Rise and Fall of Dotcom Mania", in Dark Fiber: Tracking Critical Internet Culture, MIT Press (2002), ISBN 0262621800, page 354,Rather, the business paparazzi is armoring itself for a backlash campaign against the entrepreneurial big mouths.
• 2006, Kisha Green, And Even If I Did, iUniverse, ISBN 0595390137, page vi,Nelishia—You are a special lady with an enormous heart with skills that are off the chains!!! You go girl!!! A definite multi-tasking Diva!! Get your Chanel shades paparazzi is lurking…lol

Derived terms

• mamarazzi
• paparazzification