noun / verb / interjection

humbug

HUM-bug/ˈhʌmbʌɡ/

A display of deceptive or insincere pretension.

The shell-game operator's show of fairness is humbug: she secretly holds the ball.

A dishonest shell-game operator invites a customer to choose among three cups while secretly holding the missing ball behind her back.

Etymology

Humbug's origin is unknown, but its early student-slang meanings included a trick, jest, or hoax. Its later sense of sham or hollowness connects those uses with deceptive or foolish talk.

In context

25th Hour Classics10:51

it's all humbug you know

The Time Machine – Part 1 | Full Audiobook with Subtitles (Read-Along)

More examples

That self-proclaimed expert is a humbug who invents his credentials.
The salesman humbugged us with promises he never intended to keep.
“Humbug!” she says when he claims to have predicted the outcome.

Forms

humbug · humbugs · humbugged · humbugging

Similar words

sham: Emphasizes a false appearance presented as something genuine.
deception: Emphasizes misleading others, without necessarily involving pretension or nonsense.
nonsense: Emphasizes lack of sense rather than deliberate dishonesty.