claptrap

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: clap=trap

CIDE DICTIONARY

claptrap, n. 

•  A contrivance for clapping in theaters.  [1913 Webster]
•  A trick or device to gain applause, especially pretentious but empty rhetoric; humbug.  [1913 Webster]

claptrap, a. 

 Contrived for the purpose of making a show, or gaining applause; deceptive; unreal.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

claptrap, n.
1 insincere or pretentious talk, nonsense.
2 language used or feelings expressed only to gain applause.

Etymology

CLAP(1) + TRAP(1)

THESAURUS

claptrap

absurdity, amphigory, argument, argument by analogy, argumentum ad baculum, argumentum ad captandum, argumentum ad hominem, babble, babblement, bad case, balderdash, balls, baloney, begging the question, bibble-babble, blabber, blague, blather, bombast, bosh, bull, bullshit, bunk, bunkum, circular argument, crap, crowd-pleasing argument, double-talk, drivel, drool, empty words, eyewash, fallacy, fiddle-faddle, fiddledeedee, flam, flapdoodle, flimflam, flummery, folderol, formal fallacy, fudge, fustian, gabble, galimatias, gammon, gibber, gibberish, gibble-gabble, gobbledygook, hocus-pocus, hogwash, hoke, hokum, hooey, humbug, humbuggery, hysteron proteron, insincere argument, jabber, jargon, jiggery-pokery, logical fallacy, malarkey, material fallacy, mere rhetoric, moonshine, mumbo jumbo, narrishkeit, niaiserie, non sequitur, nonsense, pack of nonsense, palaver, paralogism, petitio principii, philosophism, prate, prattle, pseudosyllogism, rant, rigamarole, rigmarole, rodomontade, rubbish, skimble-skamble, solecism, sophism, sophistry, stuff and nonsense, stultiloquence, trash, trumpery, twaddle, twattle, twiddle-twaddle, vaporing, verbal fallacy, waffling, weak point

ROGET THESAURUS

claptrap

Ostentation

N ostentation, display, show, flourish, parade, etalage, pomp, array, state, solemnity, dash, splash, splurge, glitter, strut, pomposity, pretense, pretensions, showing off, fuss, magnificence, splendor, coup d'oeil, grand doings, coup de theatre, stage effect, stage trick, claptrap, mise en scene, tour de force, chic, demonstration, flying colors, tomfoolery, flourish of trumpets, pageant, pageantry, spectacle, exhibition, exposition, procession, turn out, set out, grand function, f=ete, gala, field day, review, march past, promenade, insubstantial pageant, dress, court dress, full dress, evening dress, ball dress, fancy dress, tailoring, millinery, man millinery, frippery, foppery, equipage, ceremony, ceremonial, ritual, form, formality, etiquette, puncto, punctilio, punctiliousness, starched stateliness, stateliness, mummery, solemn mockery, mouth honor, attitudinarian, fop, ostentatious, showy, dashing, pretentious, janty, jaunty, grand, pompous, palatial, high-sounding, turgid gairish, garish, gaudy, gaudy as a peacock, gaudy as a butterfly, gaudy as a tulip, flaunting, flashing, flaming, glittering, gay, splendid, magnificent, sumptuous, theatrical, dramatic, spectacular, ceremonial, ritual, solemn, stately, majestic, formal, stiff, ceremonious, punctilious, starched, dressed to kill, dressed to the nines, decjed out, all decked out, en granite tenue, in best bib and tucker, in Sunday best, endimanch_e, chic, with flourish of trumpet, with beat of drum, with flying colors, ad captandum vulgus, honores mutant mores.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.

Untruth

N untruth, falsehood, lie, story, thing that is not, fib, bounce, crammer, taradiddle, whopper, jhuth, forgery, fabrication, invention, misstatement, misrepresentation, perversion, falsification, gloss, suggestio falsi, exaggeration, invention, fabrication, fiction, fable, nursery tale, romance, absurd story, untrue story, false story, trumped up story, trumped up statement, thing devised by the enemy, canard, shave, sell, hum, traveler's tale, Canterbury tale, cock and bull story, fairy tale, fake, claptrap, press agent's yarn, puff, puffery (exaggeration), myth, moonshine, bosh, all my eye and Betty Martin, mare's nest, farce, irony, half truth, white lie, pious fraud, mental reservation, pretense, pretext, false plea, subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe, sham, profession, empty words, Judas kiss, disguise, untrue, false, phony, trumped up, void of foundation, without- foundation, fictive, far from the truth, false as dicer's oaths, unfounded, ben trovato, invented, fabulous, fabricated, forged, fictitious, factitious, supposititious, surreptitious, elusory, illusory, ironical, soi-disant, se non e vero e ben trovato, where none is meant that meets the ear.