DEFINITIONS

buncombe

[ buhng-kuh m ]
/ ˈbʌŋ kəm /

noun

bunkum.

Content related to buncombe

Malpractice, Malarkey, And Other Words From The Second Democratic DebateHere's our roundup of top terms that created buzz on Dictionary.com during the second Democratic debate. For the first five words, we can thank the 10 candidates from the first night of the debate on July 30, and for the second five, the remaining 10 debating on July 31.
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Words nearby buncombe

bunches, bunchflower, bunching onion, bunchy, bunco, buncombe, bund, bundaberg, bundelkhand, bundesrat, bundestag

Definition for buncombe (2 of 2)

bunkum

or bun·combe

[ buhng-kuh m ]
/ ˈbʌŋ kəm /

noun

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

Origin of bunkum

Americanism; after speech in 16th Congress, 1819–21, by F. Walker, who said he was bound to speak for Buncombe (N.C. county in district he represented)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for buncombe

British Dictionary definitions for buncombe (1 of 2)

buncombe
/ (ˈbʌŋkəm) /

noun

a variant spelling (esp US) of bunkum

British Dictionary definitions for buncombe (2 of 2)

bunkum

buncombe

/ (ˈbʌŋkəm) /

noun

empty talk; nonsense
mainly US empty or insincere speechmaking by a politician to please voters or gain publicity

Word Origin for bunkum

C19: after Buncombe, a county in North Carolina, alluded to in an inane speech by its Congressional representative Felix Walker (about 1820)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012