claptrap

[ klap-trap ]

/ ˈklæpˌtræp /

pretentious but insincere or empty language: His speeches seem erudite but analysis reveals them to be mere claptrap.

any artifice or expedient for winning applause or impressing the public.

Origin of claptrap

First recorded in 1720–30; clap¹ + trap¹

1 sham, humbug, hokum, nonsense, bunk.

I do not want to hear any more of this claptrap and nonsense from you.

Inside Author Ray Bradbury’s FBI File: Was He a Communist Sympathizer? |Clark Merrefield |August 28, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
It expresses the thought of the men who aren't taken in by the claptrap of progress.

Three Plays by Granville-Barker |Harley Granville-Barker
The Governor-General used to say they were vulgar and that it was all claptrap, but that never seemed to me quite fair.

Margarita's Soul |Ingraham Lovell
"I guess we'd better shet her claptrap once and fer all," he said.

From the Valley of the Missing |Grace Miller White

The retort is on a par with the proposition, and both are claptrap.

If Not Silver, What? |John W. Bookwalter
Let us for a few moments at least, put pretence and claptrap aside, and recall our own youth.

Mankind in the Making |H. G. Wells

claptrap

/ (ˈklæpˌtræp) /

contrived but foolish talk

insincere and pretentious talk politicians' claptrap

C18 (in the sense: something contrived to elicit applause): from clap 1 + trap 1