humbug
1 of 2noun
hum·bug ˈhəm-ˌbəg 
1
a
: something designed to deceive and mislead
Their claims are humbug.
b
: a willfully false, deceptive, or insincere person
He's just an old humbug.
denounced as humbugs the playwrights who magnify the difficulties of their craft 
Times Literary Supplement
Times Literary Supplement2
: an attitude or spirit of pretense and deception
in all his humbug, in all his malice and hollowness Mary Lindsay
Mary Lindsay3
: nonsense, drivel
academic humbug
4
British : a hard usually peppermint-flavored candy
humbuggery
ˈhəm-ˌbə-g(ə-)rē
noun humbug
2 of 2verb
humbugged; humbugging
transitive verb
: deceive, hoax
humbugged by their doctors G. B. Shaw
G. B. Shawintransitive verb
: to engage in a hoax or deception
Synonyms
Noun
- counterfeit
- fake
- forgery
- hoax
- phony
- phoney
- sham
Verb
- bamboozle
- beguile
- bluff
- buffalo
- burn
- catch
- con
- cozen
- deceive
- delude
- dupe
- fake out
- fool
- gaff
- gammon
- gull
- have
- have on [chiefly British]
- hoax
- hoodwink
- hornswoggle
- juggle
- misguide
- misinform
- mislead
- snooker
- snow
- spoof
- string along
- suck in
- sucker
- take in
- trick
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Noun tests showed that the “old” map of America was a cleverly made humbug those UFO stories are a lot of humbug Verb humbugged into believing that the bones were the skeleton of a prehistoric human being
Recent Examples on the Web Nicole Winfield, Star Tribune, 17 Oct. 2020 Like many American holidays, it is now encrusted with humbug and commercialism. Dan Mclaughlin, National Review, 5 May 2020 As the story goes, he is visited by a trio of Christmas ghosts (whom Scrooge accuses of being humbugs). Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 Heroic detective, pilot, poet, magician and victor over all bullies and humbugs, animal or human, Freddy remains a model to us all. New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020 Merriam-Webster defines a humbug as something or someone that is false or deceptive. Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 Like every state, Colorado has its folklore, hoaxes, tall tales and humbugs. Tom Noel, The Know, 24 Aug. 2019 The commercial web steams on as a hopped-up, strung-out system of hyperlinks, engineered to mix Barnumesque humbug with authentic reports, and to overlap ads and news—the better to sucker the eye. Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 23 May 2018 This was familiar big-corporation humbug, custom-built to obscure the real issues. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2019 Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 See More
Noun
His bah-humbug to Halloween was in keeping with that tough line. Nicole Winfield, Star Tribune, 17 Oct. 2020 Like many American holidays, it is now encrusted with humbug and commercialism. Dan Mclaughlin, National Review, 5 May 2020 As the story goes, he is visited by a trio of Christmas ghosts (whom Scrooge accuses of being humbugs). Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 Heroic detective, pilot, poet, magician and victor over all bullies and humbugs, animal or human, Freddy remains a model to us all. New York Times, 12 Mar. 2020 Merriam-Webster defines a humbug as something or someone that is false or deceptive. Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 Like every state, Colorado has its folklore, hoaxes, tall tales and humbugs. Tom Noel, The Know, 24 Aug. 2019 The commercial web steams on as a hopped-up, strung-out system of hyperlinks, engineered to mix Barnumesque humbug with authentic reports, and to overlap ads and news—the better to sucker the eye. Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 23 May 2018 This was familiar big-corporation humbug, custom-built to obscure the real issues. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2019 Verb
In its verb form, to be humbugged is to be deceived or be the victim of a hoax. Elizabeth Wolfe And Douglas S. Wood, CNN, 21 Dec. 2019 See More Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
origin unknown
First Known Use
Noun
1750, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb
1749, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Kids Definition
humbug
noun
hum·bug ˈhəm-ˌbəg
1
: fraud sense 3
"… the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was nothing more than a humbug!" L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz
L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz2
: nonsense
humbugging
verb
as in fooling
to cause to believe what is untrue humbugged into believing that the bones were the skeleton of a prehistoric human being Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- fooling
- tricking
- deceiving
- kidding
- gulling
- cozening
- teasing
- bamboozling
- misleading
- deluding
- hoaxing
- conning
- duping
- suckering
- misguiding
- bluffing
- beguiling
- hoodwinking
- snookering
- cheating
- gaffing
- misinforming
- juggling
- stinging
- having
- catching
- gammoning
- sucking in
- snowing
- burning
- taking in
- spoofing
- stringing along
- hornswoggling
- having on
- swindling
- mulcting
- faking out
- buffaloing
- fleecing
- doing a number on
- pulling one's leg
- rooking
- defrauding
- leading one up the garden path
- flimflamming
- sticking
- leading one down the garden path
- pulling the wool over one's eyes
- shortchanging
- hustling
- bleeding
- diddling
- putting on
- chiseling
- squeezing
- skinning
- euchring
- chiselling
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- undeceiving
- revealing
- debunking
- telling
- exposing
- uncovering
- divulging
- disclosing
- unmasking
- disabusing
- showing up
- disillusioning
- unveiling
- uncloaking
- disenchanting