humbug
noun
something intended to delude or deceive.
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.
“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
Chronicling the history of such fakers as Smelcer, Young offers a long history of the hoax, beginning with a series of famous humbugs from P. T. Barnum’s sideshow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2017
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
