1
: a device used (as by showmen) to evoke a desired audience response
2
: pretentious nonsense : bunkum
Synonyms
- applesauce [slang]
- balderdash
- baloney
- boloney
- beans
- bilge
- blah
- blah-blah
- blarney
- blather
- blatherskite
- blither
- bosh
- bull [slang]
- bunk
- bunkum
- buncombe
- claptrap
- codswallop [British]
- crapola [slang]
- crock
- drivel
- drool
- fiddle
- fiddle-faddle
- fiddlesticks
- flannel [British]
- flapdoodle
- folderol
- falderal
- folly
- foolishness
- fudge
- garbage
- guff
- hogwash
- hokeypokey
- hoodoo
- hooey
- horsefeathers [slang]
- humbug
- humbuggery
- jazz
- malarkey
- malarky
- moonshine
- muck
- nerts [slang]
- nonsense
- nuts
- piffle
- poppycock
- punk
- rot
- rubbish
- senselessness
- silliness
- slush
- stupidity
- taradiddle
- tarradiddle
- tommyrot
- tosh
- trash
- trumpery
- twaddle
Examples of hokum in a Sentence
Everyone knows his story is pure hokum.
His new film is yet another piece of Hollywood hokum.
Recent Examples on the Web
The result was a pageant of fight choreography, wooden romance and hypermasculine hokum that soon entered the annals of so-bad-it’s-good camp classics.
—
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024
The movie’s ending is shameless hokum — global viewers tearfully applaud Truman’s escape into unspecified reality.
—Armond White, National Review, 2 Aug. 2023
Starring as an alcoholic onetime hoops star who returns to his alma mater to coach a losing team, Ben Affleck turns in one of his best performances in a drama that manages to buck expectations, avoid formulaic hokum and deliver on a gripping addiction narrative.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 2 June 2023
All the rest is hokum.
—Terrence Keeley, National Review, 25 Jan. 2023
See all Example Sentences for hokum 
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2024
The movie’s ending is shameless hokum — global viewers tearfully applaud Truman’s escape into unspecified reality.
—Armond White, National Review, 2 Aug. 2023
Starring as an alcoholic onetime hoops star who returns to his alma mater to coach a losing team, Ben Affleck turns in one of his best performances in a drama that manages to buck expectations, avoid formulaic hokum and deliver on a gripping addiction narrative.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 2 June 2023
All the rest is hokum.
—Terrence Keeley, National Review, 25 Jan. 2023
See all Example Sentences for hokum
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hokum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near hokum
Cite this Entry
“Hokum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hokum. Accessed 24 Jul. 2024.
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