humbug
Americannoun
-
humbugs
plural
-
something intended to delude or deceive.
- Synonyms:
- imposition
-
the quality of falseness or deception.
-
a person who is not what they claim or pretend to be; impostor.
-
something devoid of sense or meaning; nonsense.
a humbug of technical jargon.
-
British. a variety of hard mint candy.
verb (used with object)
-
humbugs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
humbugged,
past participle, past
-
humbugging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
humbugs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
humbugged,
past participle, past
-
humbugging
present participle
interjection
noun
-
a person or thing that tricks or deceives
-
nonsense; rubbish
-
a hard boiled sweet, usually flavoured with peppermint and often having a striped pattern
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
humbugsimple
-
humbugssimple
-
have humbuggedperfect
-
has humbuggedperfect
-
am humbuggingprogressive
-
are humbuggingprogressive
-
is humbuggingprogressive
-
have been humbuggingperfect progressive
-
has been humbuggingperfect progressive
Past
-
humbuggedsimple
-
had humbuggedperfect
-
was humbuggingprogressive
-
were humbuggingprogressive
-
had been humbuggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of humbug
First recorded in 1730–40; origin uncertain
Explanation
Humbug is language that's either deceptive or just ridiculous. Either way, it's verbal garbage and inspires people to mutter "Bah! Humbug!" — just like Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol. Humbug is one of many words in English for language that can't be trusted. Humbug is like snake oil: it's deceptive, tricky, and meant to put one over on you. There's a slightly different type of humbug that refers to nonsense: speech or writing that's silly, pretentious, or just empty. When someone is talking a lot but saying nothing, they're talking humbug.
Vocabulary lists containing humbug
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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"Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell
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The Time Machine
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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.
See Examples For:
Spoto’s work is not fully dismissed, but he’s often thought of as something of an academic humbug.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Kielty said he'll be spending three hours there, using a combination of cosmetics and prosthetic moulds to transform into the infamous green humbug.
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025
As usual, they’re backing their promise with lies and other humbug.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2024
If holiday clutter has you more bah humbug than merry, these tips from professional organizers around Seattle might make your life easier before and after the holidays, and well into the new year.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2023
From their ranks at Corinthian Hall, Wednesday night’s audience selected a five-man committee to test Maggie and Leah and decide whether the rappings were a humbug.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
“He used these humbugs, as he called them, to create excitement and bring people in,” Wilson says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
Joined by his wife Katie, he plunges into another assignment, as he tries to get the "spirit of Christmas" back from the dastardly humbugs.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2024
In Poe’s lifetime, a handful of well-connected American scientists advanced plans to build national institutions to distinguish “real working men in the way of science” from charlatans, quacks, and humbugs.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2021
Heroic detective, pilot, poet, magician and victor over all bullies and humbugs, animal or human, Freddy remains a model to us all.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2020
A reporter crowed, “It has become a settled fact that Burr’s and the Buffalo doctors’ theories are the silliest humbugs of the day.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
“Because,” he added, “Although I ain’t been in the city long, I ain’t to be humbugged; it won’t do for you to try to put off your confounded mock turtles on me!”
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2018
P. T. Barnum recorded the fact that the American people delight in being humbugged, and such is still the national mood.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sooner America knows we are not going to be humbugged the better it is.
From Time Magazine Archive
At last one day in an agony of despair I exclaimed, "Where, O where can humbugged humanity find a decent place to feed?"
From Doesticks, What He Says by Doesticks, Q. K. Philander
You are a man of by far too much practical sense to be humbugged by such outworn pedantry, and your own particular purpose in penning Silas is of course most distinctly apparent.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846 by Various
Stranded in his "useless position" at Transport, Reith seethed while Churchill put together his "rotten" wartime coalition full of "humbugging and sycophantic" ministers.
From Time Magazine Archive
But as for books of travel, Tom, of all the humbugs of a humbugging age, there is nothing can approach them.
From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. II by Lever, Charles James
What's the good of going on humbugging, and pretending, and making ourselves utterly wretched?
From Plays: Lady Frederick, The Explorer, A Man of Honor by Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
I’ll take precious care nobody don’t come the humbugging game over her.
From The Fatal Cord And The Falcon Rover by Reid, Mayne
Now, look here, and don't let there be any mistake about it, I'm not going to have this impudent old man humbugging about with me, so don't let anyone think it.
From Miss Arnott's Marriage by Marsh, Richard
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.
