hogwash
Americannoun
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refuse given to hogs; swill.
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any worthless stuff.
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meaningless or insincere talk, writing, etc.; nonsense; bunk.
noun
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informal nonsense
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pigswill
Etymology
Origin of hogwash
1400–50; 1900–05 hogwash for def. 2; late Middle English. See hog, wash
Explanation
Hogwash is complete nonsense, lies, or ridiculous actions. If an advertisement claims that taking one vitamin pill a day will make you ten times stronger, that's hogwash. The informal hogwash is perfect for talking about falsehoods and foolishness. Your little brother may insist that his lemonade stand will make him a millionaire this summer, but you know that's hogwash. And many politicians give long speeches that seem, in retrospect, to be nothing but hogwash. The word has seen a dramatic evolution, from the fifteenth century "slops fed to pigs," to "cheap liquor" in the 1700s, to "inferior writing" towards the end of the eighteenth century.
Vocabulary lists containing hogwash
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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.
But without getting into cinema’s experiential humanity, it all begins to sound like hogwash.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
His wife Amanda was less discreet about it - she went on social media to describe the claims as "a load of hogwash".
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2024
“Robert Baer’s book is hogwash, filled with mistakes and misinformation. I have never ever been a Russian spy,” Redmond told the Law & Crime Network’s Brian Ross.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 16, 2023
Under the circumstances, the response to these claims writes itself: They’re hogwash.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2022
I really hope this one bit of hogwash is true.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
