From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhumbughum‧bug /ˈhʌmbʌɡ/ noun 1 [uncountable] insincere or dishonest words or behaviour He dismissed the prime minister’s comments as ‘pure humbug’.2 [countable] British EnglishDFF a hard sweet made from boiled sugar, usually with a peppermint taste3 [countable] old-fashionedPRETEND someone who behaves in a dishonest or insincere way, for example by pretending to be someone they are not SYN imposter
Examples from the Corpus
humbug• Ishmael concludes the stranger is a humbug.• I am tired of being such a humbug.• He was a champion against humbug in all its forms.• What an awful humbug you must think me for putting on such a show of affection!• All this talk of love and compassion is humbug when people are hungry and homeless.• Compassionate capitalists know that all this talk of love is humbug and poppycock when people are hungry, homeless, and unhappy.• It was all so much humbug.• The book is dominated by three tremendous figures: Mahatma Gandhi, part saint, part humbug, and unrelated to Indira.• Barnum's original circus was little more than humbug and hype. 