Hopium

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heidict entry

Hopium — /ˈhoʊ.pi.əm/ · noun · sentiment: neutral.

Inflections

Form	Value
countability	mass noun

Definitions

(informal) — Memes, narratives, or cultural output that induce hope in the audience, where the truthfulness of the underlying claim is dubious or ambiguous. The term itself is neutral in connotation — it names a category of hope-producing material without judging whether indulging in it is good or bad.
- The subreddit ran on pure hopium in the weeks before the drop.
- A steady drip of hopium kept the community glued to the roadmap.

Etymology

hope: English, from Old English hopa; expectation of a favourable outcome.
opium: English, via Latin from Greek opion; the sap of the opium poppy, long a metonym for a substance that pleasantly deranges perception.

Blend of hope + opium, imitating the metaphor of an addictive substance dispensing a psychological state. Popularised in online finance and gaming communities in the 2010s. Compare copium (cope + opium) and chuddite.

Sources

Canonical entry: heidict — Hopium
Source of truth (YAML): ~/ht/heidict/entries/hopium.yaml
Curated by Benedict under heidict editorial doctrine.