claptrap — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Empty verbiage or nonsense.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   hot airpalaverwaffle

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Klein diagnoses impressively what hasn’t worked. No more claptrap about fracked gas as a bridge to renewables. Enough already of the international summit meetings that produce sirocco-quality hot air, and nonbinding agreements that bind us all to more emissions.

2. A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Historical
   • Uncountable

3. A device or trick to gain applause; a humbug.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   There had been a suggestion that the child should be with her [while she answers the door], but the mother herself had rejected this. "It would be stagey," she had said, "and clap-trap. There is nothing I hate so much as that."

Noun

1. pompous or pretentious talk or writing

   Synonyms

   bombastfustianrantblah

   Broader terms

   grandiositymagniloquenceornatenessgrandiloquencerhetoric