by word of mouth
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by word of mouth
Through the verbal sharing of information. A: "How did you hear about our bakery?" B: "Oh, by word of mouth. My dad told me about it." We don't have the budget for a big marketing campaign, so we'll just have to hope that buzz about our shop gets spread by word of mouth.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
by word of mouth
by speaking rather than writing. I learned about it by word of mouth. I need it in writing. I don't trust things I hear about by word of mouth.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
word of mouth, by
Orally, by one person telling another, as in They don't advertise; they get all their customers by word of mouth. [Mid-1500s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
by ˌword of ˈmouth
in spoken, not written, words: The news spread by word of mouth.‘By word of mouse’ (= a computer mouse) is a humorous version of this that refers to communication by email, etc.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
word of mouth, by
Orally. This phrase dates from the sixteenth century and persists to the present, though simply “orally” would be more direct. “A little message unto hir by worde of mouth,” wrote Nicholas Udall in Ralph Roister Doister (ca. 1553), presumably differentiating it from a written message.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer