What does lulu mean?
A lulu is a complete or catastrophic failure, particularly a financial, commercial, or business failure that involves substantial losses. The expression is informal and often has a strongly negative, critical tone: it suggests not merely an unsuccessful venture but one regarded as spectacularly disastrous. For example, a company might describe an unsuccessful takeover as “a financial lulu.” In older usage, the term could also refer to a stock, investment, or commercial venture that had collapsed in value. A separate, highly specialized sense denotes a smooth-skinned fish found in the North Pacific Ocean. The figurative meaning is the dominant modern use and is common especially in North American English, though it is also understood in other English-speaking varieties. Although vivid and memorable, “lulu” is chiefly journalistic and conversational rather than formal, so neutral contexts generally favor “disaster,” “failure,” or “debacle.”
nounA disastrous failure, especially a financial, commercial, or business catastrophe. The word can also denote a smooth-skinned fish found in the North Pacific Ocean.
- A disastrous failure, especially one involving serious financial or commercial losses.
- A fish found in the North Pacific Ocean, having a smooth, scaleless skin and belonging to the rockfish family.
"The company attempted an ambitious expansion that became a financial lulu."
"The poorly planned launch was an immediate financial lulu."
"The fishermen caught several lulu near the coast."
The regular plural is used for multiple failures or, in specialist usage, multiple fish.
"The investors suffered a series of lulus after the company’s products failed to sell."
In business slang, a “lulu” is the spectacular failure that turns an ambitious plan into a crisis.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of lulu
The precise origin of the word is uncertain, and no secure derivation from an earlier foreign word should be assumed. By the early 20th century, it was established in American commercial and financial slang for a disastrous business venture or collapse in value; it has no well-established group of cognates.
How lulu is actually used
The figurative sense is informal and often strongly disapproving, especially when describing a business, investment, or commercial venture. The Pacific fish sense is specialized and geographically restricted.