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Fun Words for Fun! pt. 2

By Basil Macdonald


Bombast (BAHM-bast) (noun) - speech or writing that is meant to sound important or impressive but is not sincere or meaningful.


Bombast was originally used to describe cotton or other material used for padding or stuffing in the late 16th century in England. In the ten years following, it changed from physical stuffing to metaphorical stuffing- writing filled with garbage including too many words. Bombastic, springing from bombast is used to describe someone who boasts or speaks with more confidence than they should. Brag, chatter, pomposity, magniloquence, and verbosity are all synonyms for bombast.


Charlatan (SHAHR-luh-tun) (noun) - a person who pretends to know or be something in order to deceive people


Charlatan’s first known use was during the 17th century in England. Springing from the Italian word “ciarlatano” meaning a fraud, quack, or phony, and the verb “ciarlare”, to chatter. Synonyms include quack, fraud, fake, impostor, pretender, deceiver, phony, and more.


Conundrum (kuh-NUN-drum) (noun) - a problem that is difficult, confusing, or intricate.


There is no exact known date of when conundrum first became a word, but it has existed since the 1600s. It was known by a few separate spellings and names such as conuncrum, quadundrum, and conimbrum, before officially becoming what it is now. Conundrum can also be applied to riddles that are answered with puns. Synonyms include problem, dilemma, enigma, mystery, and cruncher.





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