fulsome
Syllables: ful·some/ˈfʊlsəm/
fulsome adjective: offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
Adjective
fulsome (comparative fulsomer or more fulsome, superlative fulsomest or most fulsome)
- Offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
- [T]he Weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a River that was near. He conſented, and I immediately ſtripped myſelf ſtark naked, and went down ſoftly into the ſtream. It happened that a young Female Yahoo ſtanding behind a Bank, ſaw the whole proceeding, and enflamed by Deſire...1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […]...
- You will hear the advanced enfans perdus, as the French call them, and so they are indeed, namely, children of the fall, singing unclean and fulsome ballads of sin and harlotrie.1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John...
- Excessively flattering (connoting insincerity).
- And by hideous contrast, a redundant orator was making a speech to another gathering not thirty steps away, in fulsome laudation of "our glorious British liberties!"1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC...
- He addressed me in several handwritings with fulsome compliments as a Venus in furs [...]1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], pages 441–442
- Characterised or marked by fullness; abundant, copious.
- The fulsome thanks of the war-torn nation lifted our weary spirits.
- These extra services before Christmas Day were in addition to fulsome train facilities on the day, with many companies running a Sunday service.2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35
- Synonyms:
- profuse
- Fully developed; mature.
- Her fulsome timbre resonated throughout the hall.
fulsome meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
fulsome in Tamil
- உவட்டுகிற
fulsome in Urdu
- بےہودہ, ناپسند, قے آور
fulsome in Bengali
- অতিরিক্ত, অতিরঞ্জিত, বিরক্তিকরভাবে চাটুকারিতাপূর্ণ
fulsome in Malayalam
- abundant, copious
- അമിത amita
Synonyms of fulsome
Forms of fulsome
| comparative | fulsomer |
|---|---|
| comparative | more fulsome |
| superlative | fulsomest |
| superlative | most fulsome |
| alternative form (archaic) | fullsome |
Origin of fulsome
From Middle English fulsom, equivalent to full + -some. The meaning has evolved from an original positive connotation "abundant" to a neutral "plump" to a negative "overfed". In modern usage, it can take on any of these inflections. See usage note. The negative sense "offensive, gross; disgusting, sickening" developed secondarily after the 13th century and was influenced by Middle English foul (“foul”). In the 18th century, the word was sometimes even spelled foulsome.
Words formed from fulsome
Questions about fulsome
- What does fulsome mean?
- Fulsome means offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
- What is fulsome in Tamil?
- Fulsome in Tamil is உவட்டுகிற. See Fulsome meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is fulsome?
- Fulsome is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce fulsome?
- Fulsome is pronounced /ˈfʊlsəm/.
Words near fulsome in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fulsome (page history and authors); fulsome (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fulsome (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Fulsome (Bengali 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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Cite this entry: “fulsome.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fulsome. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.