taradiddle

American  

[tar-uh-did-l] / ˌtær əˈdɪd l /

Or tarradiddle

noun

Informal.

1. a small lie; fib.

2. pretentious nonsense.

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taradiddle British  

/ ˈtærəˌdɪdəl /

noun

1. another spelling of tarradiddle

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Etymology

Origin of taradiddle

First recorded in 1790–1800; origin uncertain; diddle ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Of course, perhaps there really are “both sides” to this question: truth and taradiddle.

From Washington Post • Nov. 26, 2021

Catherine Rampell’s Nov. 16 op-ed, “Delusions on both sides of the aisle,” provided a cogent explanation of the current inflation taradiddle.

From Washington Post • Nov. 26, 2021

Photograph: Dan Kitwood/AFP/Getty Images The folderol and taradiddle, Black Rod's knocking and all the arcanery of preposterous ceremony did nothing to gild a lame little programme.

From The Guardian • May 8, 2013

This is his film biography, and it declares a ringing hail and farewell to the hero, with all the domestic and military taradiddle that Hollywood finds necessary on such occasions.

From Time Magazine Archive

We would like to do so, of course; but our sense of truth revolts against the enunciation of such a taradiddle.

From Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 01, April 2, 1870 by Various