This flashcard defines "claptrap" as pretentious but empty and insincere language, or any artifice for winning applause. Examples illustrate its use to describe hollow speeches and public shows.
Este flashcard define "claptrap" como linguagem pretensiosa, mas vazia e insincera, ou qualquer artifício para ganhar aplausos. Exemplos ilustram seu uso para descrever discursos vazios e espetáculos públicos.
| Back | claptrap \KLAP-trap\ |
|---|---|
| Front | noun 1. Pretentious but insincere or empty language: His speeches seem erudite but analysis reveals them to be mere claptrap. 2. Any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public. [Claptrap came to English in the 1720s as a portmanteau of clap and trap.] What is she to sneer at a brave, enduring race of fellow-beings! Dress them in tawdry rags, locate them anywhere on the continent, write out their history in sounding claptrap , and she would be stirred by pathetic thrills. - John Trafford Clegg, David's Loom: a story of Rochdale's life in the early years of the nineteenth century , 1894 ...it was on the whole an enormous piece of claptrap ; the room, almost vacant when I entered, began to fill. - Charotte Brontë, Villette , 1853 |
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