noun
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contrived but foolish talk
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insincere and pretentious talk
politicians' claptrap
Etymology
Origin of claptrap
Explanation
Use the word claptrap when you're talking about overblown nonsense. You might read your English professor's new book and secretly feel that it's nothing but claptrap. Writing that's grandiose or boastful is one kind of claptrap, and a ridiculous or absurd speech is another. Most claptrap involves ornate ways of talking or writing, involving rhetorical flourishes and a lack of deep meaning. The word comes from the idea of "a trick to 'catch' applause," and its meaning evolved to mean "showy, cheap talk" and also, to some degree, "nonsense."
Vocabulary lists containing claptrap
1984
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Projekt 1065
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True Grit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That includes expected additions, like a Psycho skin and Claptrap backpack you can purchase, along with free rewards like weapon wraps and sprays.
From The Verge • Aug. 27, 2019
It's a poker game with a difference: that difference being the appearance of game characters including Claptrap from Borderlands 2, Ash from Army of Darkness and Sam from the Sam and Max games.
From The Guardian • May 24, 2013
When a young fan, Michael John Mamaril, succumbed to cancer, Claptrap delivered a recorded – and heartbreaking – eulogy: Mr Mamaril will also be memorialized in Borderlands 2.
From Forbes • Jul. 13, 2012
Two villains, Claude Claptrap, a popular demagog, and J. Gordon Slugg, financier, have emerged to harass Annie's foster-parent, Daddy Warbucks, who continues to be a model of industrious honesty.
From Time Magazine Archive
Claptrap and slipslop only make heads swim and stomachs turn.
From The Dweller on the Threshold by Hichens, Robert Smythe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
