Fulsome
/ˈfʊl.səm/noun
Excessive, insincere, or overly abundant.
Did you know?In older English, fulsome could mean rich or plentiful, but by the 16th–17th centuries it often carried the sense of being offensively excessive, showing how praise itself can curdle into disgust.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
ful
“full, filled, complete”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*fullaz
“full”
Old English
OE
-sum
“having the quality of, -some”
Middle English
ME
fulsom
“full, abundant; later, excessive or offensive”
Modern English
English
fulsome
“insincerely complimentary or excessively abundant”