Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- pretentious but insincere or empty language: His speeches seem erudite but analysis reveals them to be mere claptrap.
- any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public.
noun informal
- contrived but foolish talk
- insincere and pretentious talkpoliticians’ claptrap
c.1730, “trick to ‘catch’ applause,” a stage term; from clap (v.) + trap (n.). Extended sense of “cheap, showy language” is from 1819; hence “nonsense, rubbish.”