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- expressing a lot of admiration or praise for someone, often too much, in a way that does not sound sincere: fulsome praise Her new book has received fulsome praise from the critics. fulsome in Our guests were fulsome in their compliments about the food.
dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fulsome
Dec 12, 2019 · It sometimes referred to things that were morally reprehensible – full of wickedness – as when a 15th-century manuscript described King Arthur battling “the fulsomest freak that was ever formed,” a...
- Melissa Mohr
Is 'fulsome praise' really praiseworthy? This article explores the complex history and evolving meanings of 'fulsome,' revealing how its original sense of 'copious' has re-emerged, creating confusion and conflicting interpretations.
The adjective fulsome can be defined as "unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech." Historically, it has also meant "disgusting or offensive," or "copious or abundant." Fulsome dates to the 1200s, when its components (ful + som) gave it the meaning "abundant, full," says the Online Etymology Dictionary. By the mid ...
expressing a lot of admiration or praise for someone, often too much, in a way that does not sound sincere: fulsome praise Her new book has received fulsome praise from the critics. fulsome in Our guests were fulsome in their compliments about the food. Synonyms.
- Literally Meaningless?
- Full of Fulsome
- Unraveling The Meaning of Raveling
- Perusing A New Janus Word
- A Plethora of Piñatas
In contrast to figuratively, the adverb literally means "in a literal or strict sense—word for word." But many speakers have a habit of using the word quite unliterally as an intensifier. Take this example from a speech given by former Vice President Joe Biden: Although most dictionaries recognize the contrary uses of the word, many usage authoriti...
If your boss showers you with "fulsome praise," don't presume that a promotion is in the works. Understood in its traditional sense of "offensively flattering or insincere," fulsome has decidedly negative connotations. But in recent years, fulsomehas picked up the more complimentary meaning of "full," "generous," or "abundant." So is one definition...
If the verb unravel means to unknot, unscramble, or untangle, it's only logical to assume that ravelmust mean the opposite—to tangle or complicate. Right? Well, yes and no. You see, ravel is both an antonym and a synonym for unravel. Derived from the Dutch word for "a loose thread," ravel can mean either to tangle or untangle, to complicate or clar...
Another Janus word is the verb peruse. Since the Middle Ages, peruse has meant to read or examine, usually with great care: perusinga document means studying it carefully. Then a funny thing happened. Some people starting using peruse as a synonym for "skim" or "scan" or "read quickly"—the opposite of its traditional meaning. Most editors still rej...
In this scene from the 1986 film ¡Three Amigos!,the villainous character El Guapo is talking with Jefe, his right-hand man: Regardless of his motive, El Guapo asks a fair question: just what is a plethora? As it turns out, this Greek and Latin hand-me-down is an example of a word that has undergone amelioration—that is, an upgrade in meaning from a...
- Richard Nordquist
If you describe expressions of praise, apology, or gratitude as fulsome, you disapprove of them because they are exaggerated and elaborate, so that they sound insincere.
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Why is fulsome a Troublesome Word?
If you describe expressions of praise, apology, or gratitude as fulsome, you disapprove of them because they are exaggerated and elaborate, so that they sound insincere. [ disapproval ] Newspapers have been fulsome in their praise of the former president.
