Humbug

Quick meaning: Humbug is a noun meaning (countable, slang) A hoax, jest, or prank.

Meaning

(countable, slang) A hoax, jest, or prank.

More Meanings

1. (countable, slang) A fraud or sham; (uncountable) hypocrisy.
2. (countable, slang) A cheat, fraudster, or hypocrite.
3. (uncountable, slang) Nonsense.
4. (countable, British) A type of hard sweet (candy), usually peppermint flavoured with a striped pattern.
5. (US, countable, slang) Anything complicated, offensive, troublesome, unpleasant or worrying; a misunderstanding, especially if trivial.
6. (US, countable, African-American Vernacular, slang) A fight.
7. (countable, US, African-American Vernacular, slang, dated) A gang.

Example Sentences

All poets are humbugs, all literary men are humbugs; directly a man begins to sell his feelings for money he’s a humbug.

He is a political humbug, the greatest of all humbugs; a man who swaggers about London clubs and consults solemnly about his influence, and in the country is a nonentity.

Many times a whole audience will not only be crowded into a small room, but are noisy disbelievers, call it all a humbug, distract the mind of the magnetizer, and added to these, absolutely outwill the magnetizer, in their wish to bring odium upon the science, and carry their points and gain their ends.

What is the civility of the landlord and his waiters but humbug? What the smirking, smiling, ducking and bowing of the shopkeeper, but humbug? What his sweet and gentle "yes, sirs," and "no, sirs," and "proud to serve you, sirs," but humbug? You are not goose enough to believe for a moment that he is serious, that he has either the least regard or respect for you.

Word Forms

• humbugs
• humbugging
• humbugged

Synonyms for humbug

Depending on context, synonyms include tosh, tarradiddle, twaddle, bosh, drool, taradiddle.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include twaddle, tarradiddle, bosh, drool, taradiddle, tosh.

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