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The earliest known use of the word fulsome is in the Middle English period (1150—1500).. OED's earliest evidence for fulsome is from before 1325, in Genesis & Exodus.
Fulsome dates to the 1200s, when its components (ful + som) gave it the meaning "abundant, full," says the Online Etymology Dictionary. By the mid-1300s, it had come to mean "plump, well-fed." It morphed again in the 1600s to mean "overgrown, overfed" and "offensive to taste or good manners," a meaning it retains today.
The result of this muddy history is muddied meanings. Even though full is usually a positive word, fulsome can have pejorative connotations in phrases like "fulsome praise," where it is often taken to mean “effusive, excessive, or insincere praise.” A phrase like "a fulsome apology" is likely to be ambiguous: some may think it means "a ...
Jul 3, 2024 · Common modern usage tends toward the positive connotation, though some complain about this, and the use of fulsome in the sense of abundant, copious, or mature without contextual prompts may lead to confusion among readers familiar with the negative sense. Conversely, an intended negative connotation may not be understood by some modern readers.
USAGE In the 13th century when it was first used, fulsome meant simply “abundant or copious.” It later developed additional senses of “offensive, gross” and “disgusting, sickening,” probably by association with foul, and still later a sense of excessiveness: a fulsome disease; a fulsome meal, replete with too much of everything.
Dec 10, 2020 · Fulsome. A ccording to The American Heritage Dictionary, the adjective fulsome means “excessively flattering or insincerely earnest,” “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 ...
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Dec 12, 2019 · Fulsome, then, etymologically speaking, is “characterized by fullness, or being full.” When it first appeared in the mid-13th century, fulsome usually had a positive connotation. Its primary ...
