flummery
Americannoun
plural
flummeries-
oatmeal or flour boiled with water until thick.
-
fruit custard or blancmange usually thickened with cornstarch.
-
any of various dishes made of flour, milk, eggs, sugar, etc.
-
complete nonsense; foolish humbug.
noun
-
informal meaningless flattery; nonsense
-
a cold pudding of oatmeal, etc
Etymology
Origin of flummery
1615–25; < Welsh llymru, with ending assimilated to -ery
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.
In his biography, Andrew Morton wrote that Diana was “deeply disenchanted with the protocol, the flummery and the artifice” of the family, and “the brittle formality” of royal life.
From New York Times • Nov. 16, 2020
Anything we could do to stop this flummery from clogging our airwaves, inboxes and video streams would probably be worse than the problem itself.
From Fox News • Jun. 12, 2020
His career in flummery and flimflam was launched when he left reform school at age 14 to work as a Coney Island pitchman, then joined Dr. W.H.
From Washington Post • Aug. 8, 2018
There was, of course, plenty of mildly baffling flummery, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the Lord Mayor of London's mourning sword, carried aloft before the Queen and Prince Philip as they walked into St Paul's.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2013
It sounded like a lot of flummery to Drave, but what did he know?
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
