claptrap

Definition

Empty verbiage or nonsense.

Etymology

Theater slang, c. 1730, from clap + trap, referring to theatrical techniques or gags used to incite applause.

Example Sentences

• "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."
• "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.""