claptrap
UK/ˈklæpˌtɹæp/
claptrap noun: empty verbiage or nonsense.
Noun
claptrap (countable and uncountable, plural claptraps)
- Empty verbiage or nonsense.
- 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.2014 November 6, Rob Nixon, “Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’”, in The New York Times
- Synonyms:
- hot air, palaver, waffle, absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash
- A device for producing a clapping sound in theaters.
- A device or trick to gain applause; a humbug.
- 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."1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “Lady Milborough as Ambassador”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC, page 83
claptrap meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
claptrap in Tamil
- வெறும்பேச்சு, வெட்டிப்பேச்சு, அர்த்தமற்ற பிதற்றல், உளறல்
claptrap in Urdu
- دکھاوا, خودنمائی, ظاہرداری
claptrap in Malayalam
- nonsense, gibberish, rubbish
- വളവളാ സംസാരം, അസംബന്ധം, ശുദ്ധഅസംബന്ധം, അപാർത്ഥം, അർത്ഥമില്ലാത്തത്, ചവറ്
claptrap in Kannada
- ಜಳ್ಳುಮಾತು, ಪೊಳ್ಳುಮಾತು, ಅರ್ಥವಿಲ್ಲದ ಮಾತು, ಮುಖಸ್ತುತಿ, ಭಟ್ಟಂಗಿ ಮಾತು
Synonyms of claptrap
- hot air
- palaver
- waffle
- absurdity
- all my eye
- all my eye and Betty Martin
- bafflegab
- balderdash
- balls
- baloney
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of claptrap
| plural | claptraps |
|---|---|
| alternative form | clap trap |
| alternative form | clap-trap |
Origin of claptrap
Theater slang, c. 1730, from clap + trap, referring to theatrical techniques or gags used to incite applause.
Words formed from claptrap
Questions about claptrap
- What does claptrap mean?
- Claptrap means empty verbiage or nonsense.
- What is claptrap in Tamil?
- Claptrap in Tamil is வெறும்பேச்சு, வெட்டிப்பேச்சு, அர்த்தமற்ற பிதற்றல். See Claptrap meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is claptrap?
- Claptrap is a noun.
- How do you pronounce claptrap?
- Claptrap is pronounced /ˈklæpˌtɹæp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of claptrap?
- The plural of claptrap is claptraps.
Words near claptrap in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: claptrap (page history and authors); claptrap (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); claptrap (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); claptrap (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); claptrap (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-claptrap.ogg, En-us-claptrap.oga.
Cite this entry: “claptrap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/claptrap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.