G. N. ShusterMaxine KuminDon OliverBruce RothwellSimon GrayThor Eckert, Jr.William CongreveGeorge VilliersLewis MumfordA. J. Liebling
Using Fulsome: Usage Guide
The senses shown above are the chief living senses of fulsome. Sense 2, which was a generalized term of disparagement in the late 17th century, is the least common of these. Fulsome became a point of dispute when sense 1, thought to be obsolete in the 19th century, began to be revived in the 20th. The dispute was exacerbated by the fact that the large dictionaries of the first half of the century missed the beginnings of the revival. Sense 1 has not only been revived but has spread in its application and continues to do so. The chief danger for the user of fulsome is ambiguity. Unless the context is made very clear, the reader or hearer cannot be sure whether such an expression as "fulsome praise" is meant in sense 1b or in sense 4.
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You Don't Need to Get Negative About Fulsome
In the 19th century, fulsome was mostly a literary term used disapprovingly to describe excessive, insincere praise and flattery. This meaning is still current, but since the early 20th century fulsome has been increasingly used with far more positive meanings, among them “abundant, copious” and “full and well developed.” The result is some amount of confusion: a phrase like “fulsome praise” used today without clarifying context may rightly be understood to mean either “abundant praise” or “excessive and obsequious praise.” While some critics object to the pleasanter meanings of fulsome, they are in fact true to the word’s origins: when it was first used in the 14th century fulsome meant “abundant, copious.”
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Examples of fulsome in a Sentence
Llewellyn King, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
Immersing myself in that history not only inspired in me greater compassion for people from different backgrounds, with different histories, but also gave me a more fulsome understanding of the origins of our nation’s racial and social fissures.
—Tim Madigan, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2024
The result is a sound that offers the best of both worlds with the dynamic driver producing a rich and fulsome sound with warmth and plenty of low end.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 13 Oct. 2024
Assessing the state of the war three years in, a new Harris administration could determine that more fulsome support for the Ukrainian military effort is necessary to exert pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and bring the conflict to an end.
—Alexander Vindman, Foreign Affairs, 25 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Fulsome.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fulsome. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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fulsome
adjective
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