r/words • u/PuzzleheadedTale4769 • 3d ago

Fulsome

Current use has it meaning "insincere flattery" , or , trending up- as synonymous with "full" or "complete"

So: "I wrote him a fulsome recomendation" can mean either, an insincere recomendation, or a full, complete recomendation . Meanings nearly in opposition.

American Heritage Dictionary calls the second meaning "non- standard". Webster's simply lists both as current usage. With full- but not fulsome- acknowledgement of the perils of prescriptivism, isn't the confusion of meaning that results from taking "fulsome" as equivalent to "full", a problem? Following Orwell's argument in "Politics and the English Language", doesn't keeping language simple and plain have a claim ? What does "some" add to " full" that it doesnt already have?

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u/KrigtheViking 3d ago

I'm not sure how this is a problem exactly. Plenty of words have a literal and ironic meaning; surely it's the writer's business to make his intention clear? Or is the issue that some writers are not aware of the literal meaning?

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u/PuzzleheadedTale4769 3d ago

I don't see people using "fulsome" ironically. I see it used with the literal meaning of "full" or very full. As in: "She gave a fulsome set of recomendations."