vaporware
va·por·ware/ˈveɪpəɹˌwɛɹ/noun
vaporware is a noun meaning “An advertised product, often computer software, the launch of which has not happened yet and might not ever happen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E and has 3 syllables (va·por·ware), and it appears about once in every 19 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does vaporware mean?
noun
- 1
An advertised product, often computer software, the launch of which has not happened yet and might not ever happen.
Near-synonym: dreamware
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce vaporware?
- UK /ˈveɪpəwɛə/
- US /ˈveɪpəɹˌwɛɹ/
Vaporware has 3 syllables, split va·por·ware in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-vaporware.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-vapourware.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of vaporware
- vapourware UK
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is vaporware?
Vaporware appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 131,834th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Vaporware in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense advertised computer product the launch of which is questionable:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fumiciel |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does vaporware come from?
From vapor + -ware.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).