claptrap

[klap-trap]

See more synonyms for claptrap on Thesaurus.com

noun

pretentious but insincere or empty language: His speeches seem erudite but analysis reveals them to be mere claptrap.
any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public.

Origin of claptrap

First recorded in 1720–30; clap¹ + trap¹

Synonyms for claptrap

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1. sham, humbug, hokum, nonsense, bunk.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for claptrap

bunk, bombast, drivel, nonsense

Examples from the Web for claptrap

Contemporary Examples of claptrap

I do not want to hear any more of this claptrap and nonsense from you.
Inside Author Ray Bradbury’s FBI File: Was He a Communist Sympathizer?
Clark Merrefield
August 28, 2012

Historical Examples of claptrap

Shears loved this dry, claptrap way of announcing his triumphs.
The Blonde Lady
Maurice Leblanc
My dears, do let me beg of you not to be caught by claptrap.
Out in the Forty-Five
Emily Sarah Holt
Confound you, do you know who you are talking to, Mr. Claptrap?
A Tender Attachment
George Melville Baker
I'm getting further and further away from this century and its claptrap.
The March Family Trilogy, Complete
William Dean Howells
The retort is on a par with the proposition, and both are claptrap.
If Not Silver, What?
John W. Bookwalter

British Dictionary definitions for claptrap

claptrap

noun informal

contrived but foolish talk
insincere and pretentious talkpoliticians' claptrap

Word Origin for claptrap

C18 (in the sense: something contrived to elicit applause): from clap 1 + trap 1

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

Word Origin and History for claptrap

c.1730, "trick to 'catch' applause," a stage term; from clap (v.) + trap (n.). Extended sense of "cheap, showy language" is from 1819; hence "nonsense, rubbish."