A List of Interjections and Exclamations in English

A List of Interjections and Exclamations in English Hey! Lets take a look at a long list of interjections- or, as theyre sometimes called (somewhat misleadingly), exclamations. Theyre words or short phrases that stand apart from the rest of a sentence grammatically (or on their own, without a subject and verb), and are often used to exclaim, like Ow! or Ack! Key Takeaways: Interjections Interjections are short phrases often used to exclaim.They can stand on their own as sentences. Because theyre often used to exclaim, interjections carry some emotion with them and can make fictional dialogue more realistic. Theyre of course all over comic books, especially superheroes fighting evil. Interjections are the outlaws of English grammar as illustrated in this writers other interjections piece: Interjections usually stand apart from normal sentences, defiantly maintaining their syntactic independence. (Yeah!) They arent marked inflectionally for grammatical categories such as tense or number. (No sirree!) And because they show up more frequently in spoken English than in writing, most scholars have chosen to ignore them. (Aw.) List of 100+ Interjections As you read through this list, see if you can pick out the interjections that have more than one meaning or can be used in more than one way. Additional spellings or usages are listed in parentheses. Ah: Ah, I dont know if thats true.A-ha: A-ha! I figured it out!Ahem: Ahem, could you boys stop talking so we could get on with class, please?Alas: Alas, it was not to be.Amen: Amen, hallejulah, amen!Aw: Aw, do we have to?Awesome: You two are dating? Awesome!Aww: Aww, thats so cute!Bada bing (bada-bing, bada-bing, bada-boom): Youve gotta get up close like this and- bada-BING!- you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. (The Godfather, 1972)Bah: Bah, humbug!Baloney: Oh baloney. I dont believe that.Big deal: Big deal. Who cares?Bingo: Bingo! Right on target!Boo: Boo! Scared you!Boo-hoo: That makes me sad. Boo-hoo.Booyah (boo-yah): Yeah, I aced this test. Booyah!Boy (boy oh boy): Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy. Thats heavy, man.Bravo: Bravo! That was fantastic!Brilliant: Brilliant, luv, absolutely brilliant! (U.K.)Brrr: Brr! Minus 30 degrees? Yuk.Bull: Bull. Its not 30 below zero, not really.Bye (bye-bye): Bye! See you later!Cheers: Cheers, mate. Youre welcome. (U.K.); Raise a toas t! Cheers! (U.S.) Come on (cmon): Come on. Hurry up.Cool: Oh wow, that is so cool!Cowabunga: Cowabunga, dude. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)Dang: Dang it! Whered I put that?Darn (darn it): Darn it! I cant find the other one either!Dear me: Oh dear me. What are we going to do?Duck: Duck! No, really! Get down!Duh: Well, duh. I cant believe you didnt know that.Eh: Eh? What?Enjoy: Enjoy! I hope you like it!Excellent: Party time, excellent! (Waynes World)Fabulous: Fabulous! Thats just wonderful!Fantastic: Fantastic! I just love it!Fddledeedee  (fiddle-dee-dee): Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war; this war talks spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. (Gone With the Wind)Finally: Finally! I never thought thatd be done.For heavens sake(s): Oh for heavens sake, dont you know your Bible? (Little House on the Prairie)Fore: Fore! (Look out! in golf)Foul: Foul! The baseball went out of bounds.Freeze: Freeze! Stop right there!Gee (gee whiz, gee willikers): Well gee whiz, pa, wh y do I have to do that? Giddyap (giddyup): Giddyup Silver! Go, horse, go!Golly (good golly, golly gee  willikers): Golly, that sure was tasty.Goodbye (good-bye): Goodbye, see you again soon!Good grief: Good grief, Charlie Brown. (Peanuts)Good heavens: Good heavens! How did that happen?Gosh: â€Å"Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!† (Napoleon Dynamite)Great: Great! Im so excited youll come along!Great balls of fire: Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! (Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee Lewis)Ha: Ha-ha! Thats funny!Hallelujah: Glory be to God, hallelujah!Heavens (heavens above, heavens to Betsy): Oh heavens! How could you think that?Heigh-ho: Heigh-ho neighbor! How are you?Hello: Hello! How are things with you?Help: Help! I need somebody (Help! The Beatles)Hey (hey there): Hey! Look over there!Hi (hiya): Hi! Whats up?Hip, hip, hooray: We won! On the count of three, everyone: Hip, hip hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!Hmm (hrm): Hmm. Let me think about that for a bit.Ho-ho-ho: Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas!Ho ly mackerel (holy cow, holy moly, holy Moses, holy smokes): Holy mackerel! I cant believe it! Ho-hum: Ho-hum, how boring.Hooray (hurrah, hurray): Hooray! Thats awesome!Howdy (howdy do): Howdy, pardner.Huh: Huh. I have no idea.Ick: Ick! How gross!Indeed: Indeed! Ill bet you didnt know that!Jeez: Jeez, do we really have to go through this now?Kaboom: Kaboom! It blew up!Kapow: And Batman hit the evildoer, kapow!Lordy (lordy, lordy): Oh lordy, lordy, look whos 40!Mama mia: Mama mia, let me go. (Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen)Man: Man, thats unbelievable.Marvelous: Marvelous! Oh, honey, thats just wonderful.My: My! I never once thought of it, Huck! (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)My goodness (my heavens, my stars, my word): My goodness, isnt that just grand?Nah: Nah, itll never work.No problem: Thank you. No problem.No way (no way Josà ©): No way! I cant believe it.Nope: Nope. I cant do that.Nuts: Nuts! I wish I didnt have to.Oh (oh boy, oh dear, oh my, oh my gosh, oh my goodness, oh no, oh well): Oh! Thats shocking!OK (okay): OK, sounds great. Thank you.Ouch: Ouch! That hurt! Ow: Ow! That stung!Please: Would you help me, please?Poof: Poof! She just disappeared.Shh: Shh! Quiet in the library!Super: Super! Thats fantastic!Swell: Swell! How great!Welcome: Welcome! Come in!; (Youre) Welcome!Well: Well, I just dont know about that.Whoop-de-doo: Well whoop-de-doo. (sarcasm) I so dont care.Woo-hoo: Woo-hoo! Thats fantastic!Wow: Wow! I love it!Yabba dabba doo: Yabba dabba doo! (The Flinstones)Yadda, yadda, yadda: Well, we were engaged to be married, uh, we bought the wedding invitations, and, uh, yada yada yada, Im still single. (Seinfeld)Yippee: Yippie! Thats exciting!Yummy: Yummy! I love chocolate cake! Single or Double-Duty Parts of Speech Interjections have traditionally been treated as one of the eight parts of speech  (or word classes). But its worth keeping in mind that many interjections  can do double or triple duty as other parts of speech. For instance, when a  word such as boy or awesome appears by itself (often followed by an exclamation point in writing), it functions as an interjection: Boy! You have an answer for everything.The crew chief handed me my first paycheck. Awesome! I said. But when that same word shows up syntactically integrated into a sentence, it usually operates as a different part of speech. In the following examples, boy is a noun, and awesome is an adjective: The boy ate a Snickers bar.Seeing the northern lights for the first time was an awesome experience. Words that are used only  as interjections are called primary interjections, while words that also belong to other word classes are called secondary interjections.   Oh! Heres something else to look out for. The meanings of interjections sometimes change depending on the context  in which theyre used. The word oh, for example, may indicate surprise, disappointment, or delight: Oh! I didnt see you sitting there.Oh. I was hoping you could stay for a while.Oh! Im so glad you came!