claptrap
[klap-trap]
- 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.
Show More
Origin of claptrap
Synonyms for claptrap
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
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 LadyMaurice Leblanc
My dears, do let me beg of you not to be caught by claptrap.
Out in the Forty-FiveEmily Sarah Holt
Confound you, do you know who you are talking to, Mr. Claptrap?
A Tender AttachmentGeorge Melville Baker
I'm getting further and further away from this century and its claptrap.
The March Family Trilogy, CompleteWilliam Dean Howells
The retort is on a par with the proposition, and both are claptrap.
If Not Silver, What?John W. Bookwalter
claptrap
- contrived but foolish talk
- insincere and pretentious talkpoliticians' claptrap
Show More
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
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper