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baloney

/bəˈloʊni/
/bəˈlʌʊni/
IPA guide

Baloney is nonsense. When someone says something completely ridiculous, call it a bunch of baloney. If your friend tells you a unicorn on roller skates ate the last cookie, tell her she’s full of baloney!

The word baloney comes from the sandwich meat called bologna, which is typically made of leftover scraps of meat. Around 1920, baloney came to mean "nonsense," and it was also used to describe an unskilled boxer. Use it to describe utter nonsense, not necessarily evil lies, but just words that mean nothing. A politician who spouts clichés but really says nothing is full of baloney, and so is a pretentious artist or a pompous showoff.

Definitions of baloney
  1. noun
    pretentious or silly talk or writing
    see moresee less
    type of:
    bunk, hokum, meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality
    a message that seems to convey no meaning
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