''fulsome'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''fulsome'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250816112742-00-⌔

fulsome - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

fulsome (comparativefulsomer or more fulsome, superlativefulsomest or most fulsome)

• Offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive.
  • ✤ [T]he Weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a River that was near. He conſented, and I immediately ſtripped myſelf ſtark naked, and went down ſoftly into the ſtream. It happened that a young Female Yahoo ſtanding behind a Bank, ſaw the whole proceeding, and enflamed by Deſire, as the Nag and I conjectured, came running with all ſpeed, and leaped into the Water within five Yards of the Place where I bathed. […] She embraced me after a moſt fulſome manner; […]¹
  • ✤ You will hear the advanced enfans perdus, as the French call them, and so they are indeed, namely, children of the fall, singing unclean and fulsome ballads of sin and harlotrie.²
• Excessively flattering (connoting insincerity).
  • ✤ And by hideous contrast, a redundant orator was making a speech to another gathering not thirty steps away, in fulsome laudation of “our glorious British liberties!”³
  • ✤ He addressed me in several handwritings with fulsome compliments as a Venus in furs […]⁴
  • ✤ City overcame a spirited effort from Cardiff’s Championship rivals Bristol City in a keenly contested Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, with manager Pep Guardiola fulsome in his praise for Lee Johnson’s men over two legs.⁵
• Characterised or marked by fullness; abundant, copious.
  • ✤ The fulsome thanks of the war-torn nation lifted our weary spirits.
  • ✤ These extra services before Christmas Day were in addition to fulsome train facilities on the day, with many companies running a Sunday service.⁶
• Fully developed; mature.
  • ✤ Her fulsome timbre resonated throughout the hall.

Etymology

From Middle English fulsom, equivalent to full +‎ -some. The meaning has evolved from an original positive connotation “abundant” to a neutral “plump” to a negative “overfed”. In modern usage, it can take on any of these inflections. See usage note.

The negative sense “offensive, gross; disgusting, sickening” developed secondarily after the 13th century and was influenced by Middle English foul (“foul”).⁷ In the 18th century, the word was sometimes even spelled foulsome.⁸

Pronunciation

• enPR: fo͝ol’səm, IPA: /ˈfʊlsəm/
• Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ʊlsəm
• Hyphenation: ful‧some

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

1. 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Relates Several Particulars of the Yahoos. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 276: ↩

2. 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC: ↩

3. 1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC, page 448: ↩

4. 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II[Odyssey], pages 441–442: ↩

5. 2018 January 28, Dafydd Pritchard, “Cardiff City 1 – 1 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

6. 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway…”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35: ↩

7. Dictionary.com ↩

8. Grammarphobia blog ↩

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