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HUMBUG (humbugged, humbugging)

Pronunciation (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does humbug mean?

• HUMBUG (noun)
The noun HUMBUG has 3 senses:

1. pretentious or silly talk or writing
2. communication (written or spoken) intended to deceive
3. something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

Familiarity information: HUMBUG used as a noun is uncommon.

• HUMBUG (verb)
The verb HUMBUG has 1 sense:

1. trick or deceive

Familiarity information: HUMBUG used as a verb is very rare.

Dictionary entry details

• HUMBUG (noun)

Sense 1

humbug ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Pretentious or silly talk or writing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

twaddle; tosh; tommyrot; humbug; drool; bosh; boloney; bilgewater; baloney; taradiddle; tarradiddle

Hypernyms ("humbug" is a kind of...):

bunk; hokum; meaninglessness; nonsense; nonsensicality (a message that seems to convey no meaning)

Domain usage:

argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))

Sense 2

humbug ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Communication (written or spoken) intended to deceive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

snake oil; humbug

Hypernyms ("humbug" is a kind of...):

deceit; deception; misrepresentation (a misleading falsehood)

Sense 3

humbug ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

dupery; hoax; put-on; fraud; fraudulence; humbug

Hypernyms ("humbug" is a kind of...):

chicane; chicanery; guile; shenanigan; trickery; wile (the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "humbug"):

goldbrick (anything that is supposed to be valuable but turns out to be worthless)

• HUMBUG (verb)

Sense 1

humbug ^{[BACK TO TOP]}

Meaning:

Trick or deceive

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "humbug" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

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HUMBUG: related words searches

» hokum: pronunciation in phonetic transcription
» Definition of nonsensicality
» cant: pronunciation in phonetic transcription
» Meaning of jargon
» What does wile mean?

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