bunkum

[ buhng-kuhm ]

noun

1. insincere speechmaking by a politician intended merely to please local constituents.
2. insincere talk; claptrap; humbug.

bunkum

/ ˈbʌŋkəm /

noun

1. empty talk; nonsense
2. empty or insincere speechmaking by a politician to please voters or gain publicity

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunkum¹

An Americansim dating back to 1815–20; after a speech in the16th Congress (1819–21), by F. Walker, who said he was bound to speak for Buncombe (a county in the district in North Carolina that he represented)

Word History and Origins

Origin of bunkum¹

C19: after Buncombe , a county in North Carolina, alluded to in an inane speech by its Congressional representative Felix Walker (about 1820)

Example Sentences

A grain—requiring to be picked out with a pin and microscope—of truth, with a bushel of bunkum or cant.

From Project Gutenberg

He became the voice of the British Empire, and the man who had always ridiculed Americans for bunkum oratory, out-screamed us all.

From Project Gutenberg

But I'm blowed if this bunkum don't make me inclined to turn Radical rat.

From Project Gutenberg

And I might have known all the time that it was so much bunkum, just a yarn to get out of my hands.

From Project Gutenberg

Their magic of the first kind is compounded of pure bunkum and fraud.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gibberish