claptrap

clap·trap

C0385600 (klăp′trăp′)n. Pretentious, insincere, or empty language: "I hate ... that air / Of claptrap, which your recent poets prize" (Byron).

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[Obsolete claptrap, a theatrical trick to win applause : clap + trap.]

claptrap

(ˈklæpˌtræp) n1. contrived but foolish talk2. insincere and pretentious talk: politicians' claptrap. [C18 (in the sense: something contrived to elicit applause): from clap¹ + trap¹]

clap•trap

(ˈklæpˌtræp)

n. 1. pretentious and insincere or empty language. 2. any artifice or expedient for winning applause. [1720–30]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

claptrap - pompous or pretentious talk or writingblah, bombast, fustian, rantgrandiloquence, grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, rhetoric - high-flown style; excessive use of verbal ornamentation; "the grandiosity of his prose"; "an excessive ornateness of language"

claptrap

noun (Informal) nonsense, rubbish, rot, crap (slang), garbage (informal), trash, bunk (informal), bullshit (taboo slang), balls (taboo slang), bull (slang), shit (taboo slang), hot air (informal), tosh (slang, chiefly Brit.), flannel (Brit. informal), pap, cobblers (Brit. taboo slang), bilge (informal), humbug, drivel, twaddle, tripe (informal), affectation, guff (slang), blarney, bombast, moonshine, insincerity, hogwash, hokum (slang, chiefly U.S. & Canad.), piffle (informal), poppycock (informal), bosh (informal), eyewash (informal), tommyrot, horsefeathers (U.S. slang), bunkum or buncombe (chiefly U.S.) He talks a lot of pretentious claptrap.

claptrap

noun1. Pretentious, pompous speech or writing:bombast, fustian, grandiloquence, magniloquence, orotundity, rant, turgidity.2. Something that does not have or make sense:balderdash, blather, bunkum, drivel, garbage, idiocy, nonsense, piffle, poppycock, rigmarole, rubbish, tomfoolery, trash, twaddle.Informal: tommyrot.Slang: applesauce, baloney, bilge, bull, bunk, crap, hooey, malarkey.

Translations

sproloquio