Standard Lemma guide

claptrap

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /ˈklæpˌtɹæp/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Empty verbiage or nonsense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hot air, palaver, waffle, absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil, Bandini, baragouin, batcrap, batshit, bilgewater, blah, blather, blatherskite, bobbins, bollocks, bosh, BS, bull, bullcrap, bulldust, bull feathers, bullshit, bullspeak, bunk, bunkum, bushwah, clamjamfrey, claptrap, cobblers, codswallop, crap, crock, crock of shit, double Dutch, double talk, doublespeak, dribble, drivel, eyewash, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, flim-flam, flizz, flummery, folderol, foolishness, footle, framis, fuckery, fuckry, fudge, galimatias, Gallophone, garbage, garble, gash, gibber, gibberish, gobbledygook, gossip, Greek, guff, gup, hoax, hocus-pocus, hogwash, hokum, hooey, horse cock, horsefeathers, horse hockey, horse piss, horse puckey, horseshit, humbug, Irish bull, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, jibber-jabber, jimjam, jive, junk, lallation, macaroni, malarkey, manure, meaninglessness, moonshine, mumbo jumbo, nertz, nonsense, pie in the sky, piffle, pigswill, poppycock, prattle, put-on, rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, ruse, santorum, shit, shite, skimble-skamble, squit, stuff, stuff and nonsense, tommy-rot, tosh, trittle trattle, tush, trash, tripe, twaddle, wass, whiff-whaff, word salad

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, historical, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A device or trick to gain applause; a humbug.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

pompous or pretentious talk or writing

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bombast, fustian, rant, blah

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: grandiosity, magniloquence, ornateness, grandiloquence, rhetoric

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: galimaties — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Catalan: embull — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Catalan: embrolla — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Catalan: algaravia — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Czech: cancy — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Dutch: Bombast — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Dutch: Holle frasen — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Finnish: hölynpöly — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Finnish: humpuuki — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Finnish: höpönpöpö — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • French: verbiage — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • French: charabia — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • French: galimatias — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Galician: verborrea — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Galician: faramalla — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Galician: barallada — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • German: Gerede — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • German: Geschwätz — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • German: Gequatsche — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Italian: sproloquio — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Māori: kohe — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Māori: ngutungutuahi — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Māori: kutukutuahi — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Polish: mowa-trawa — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Polish: pustosłowie — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Polish: wodolejstwo — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Polish: ambaje — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Russian: чепуха́ (čepuxá) — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Serbo-Croatian: bljezgarije — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Serbo-Croatian: glupost — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Spanish: algarabía — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Spanish: verborrea — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Spanish: galimatías — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Spanish: palabrería — empty verbiage or nonsense
  • Turkish: palavra — empty verbiage or nonsense