Meaning & use

fulsome

adjective·Advanced

Very generous or abundant in praise, often to the point of seeming excessive or insincere.

See it in a sentence

The critic's fulsome praise for the new restaurant made some readers suspicious of a paid review.

He offered a fulsome apology, though few in the room believed he truly meant it.

A note on using this word

Fulsome traditionally carries a negative sense of insincere excess, though it is now often used more loosely and approvingly to mean simply 'abundant' or 'complete'; be aware readers may interpret it either way.

Words with a similar meaning

excessiveeffusive

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

sparserestrained

Make it your own

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