Definition of "paparazzo" [paparazzo]

• A freelance photographer who doggedly pursues celebrities to take candid pictures for sale to magazines and newspapers. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Both documentaries use the same footage from Fellini's La Dolce Vita to explain the origin of the term paparazzo (it's a character's name)."
• "The mafia infiltration and grubby money-laundering is a far cry from the hedonistic era portrayed in Fellini's 1960 classic, which starred the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni as a society reporter and gave the world the word 'paparazzo'."
• "Galella has never shied away from being called a paparazzo, derived from the Italian word for mosquito."