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/ˈɪəwɜːm/ · noun
A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted..
The chorus [of "Meeting in the Ladies Room" by Klymaxx] spawned an earworm so potent that women still mutter it as they exit for a bathroom break twenty years later.
"It's been haunting me," she said. / "Yeah, well," he said, weakly. "Sometimes tunes do that." [...] "I don't mean that I heard it once before and caught an earworm. [...]"
My Mom has a special gift—or curse—depending on how you look at it. She suffers from ear worms. That's when you have songs runnin' around in your head and can't shut them off. All day long, at the ranch, Mom would go about her work, singin' and whistlin'.
Earworms are the virological vectors onto which sonic branding latches. [...] A commonly cited species within memetics, the earworm is the catchy tune that you cannot get out of your head, the vocal refrain, the infectious rhythm or the addictive riff.
She does not regard her ear-worms as anything other than an incidental irritant in her life. Unlike Jane, I have an ear-worm all the time – literally all the time – from the moment I wake up to the moment I zonk out; [...]
And with the way he's turned our music into my own personal ear worm, I think I'm actually getting this artistry thing he keeps yammering on about.
I had planned in mind to tell you [...] how I protected, that is, guaranteed, Evergreen sweet corn against the bud worm and the ear worm; [...]
The number of bollworms or ear worms increases greatly as the season advances. This indicates a need for hastening the maturity of all crops affected.
Use earworm when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Earworm means A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted..
Common synonyms include brainworm.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
The chorus [of "Meeting in the Ladies Room" by Klymaxx] spawned an earworm so potent that women still mutter it as they exit for a bathroom break twenty years later.
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