bunkum

noun

bun·kum ˈbəŋ-kəm

variants or buncombe

: insincere or foolish talk : nonsense

Did you know?

Some words in the English language have more colorful histories than others. In the case of bunkum, you could almost say it was an act of Congress that brought the word into being. Back in 1820, Felix Walker, who represented North Carolina's Buncombe County in the U.S. House of Representatives, was determined that his voice be heard on his constituents' behalf, even though the matter up for debate was irrelevant to Walker's district and he had little of substance to contribute. To the exasperation of his colleagues, Walker insisted on delivering a long and wearisome "speech for Buncombe." His persistent—if insignificant—harangue made buncombe (later respelled bunkum) a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and came later to refer to any kind of nonsense.

Examples of bunkum in a Sentence

What a load of bunkum! a cinematic depiction of the Middle Ages that was derided as pure bunkum by historians

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Putting aside the junk peddling, how much of Madoff’s and Trump’s bunkum do they themselves (for Madoff, did) believe to be true? —Richard Behar, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024 As generative AI is integrated into common search engines and voters converse with chatbots, people seeking basic information about elections have at times been met with misinformation, pure bunkum, or links to fringe websites. —Mekela Panditharatne, TIME, 10 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Buncombe county, North Carolina; from a remark made by its congressman, who defended an irrelevant speech by claiming that he was speaking to Buncombe

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of bunkum was in 1838

See more words from the same year