folderol

noun

fol·​de·​rol ˈfäl-də-ˌräl 

variants or less commonly falderal

ˈfal-də-ˌral 

1

: a useless ornament or accessory : trifle

2

: nonsense

Did you know?

Hogwash. Claptrap. Hooey. Drivel. Malarkey. English is rife with words that mean "nonsense," and "folderol" is one of the many. Though not the most common of the words for nonsense, it's been around since 1820 and is still heard today. "Folderol" comes from "fol-de-rol" (or "fal-de-ral"), which used to be a nonsense refrain in songs, much like "tra-la-la." The oldest recorded instance of someone "singing folderol" occurs in Irish dramatist George Farquhar's 1701 play Sir Harry Wildair, in which a character sings, "Fal, al, deral!"

Synonyms

• applesauce [slang]
• balderdash
• baloney
• boloney
• beans
• bilge
• blah
• blah-blah
• blarney
• blather
• blatherskite
• blither
• bosh
• bull [slang]
• bunk
• bunkum
• buncombe
• claptrap
• codswallop [British]
• crapola [slang]
• crock
• drivel
• drool
• fiddle
• fiddle-faddle
• fiddlesticks
• flannel [British]
• flapdoodle
• folly
• foolishness
• fudge
• garbage
• guff
• hogwash
• hokeypokey
• hokum
• hoodoo
• hooey
• horsefeathers [slang]
• humbug
• humbuggery
• jazz
• malarkey
• malarky
• moonshine
• muck
• nerts [slang]
• nonsense
• nuts
• piffle
• poppycock
• punk
• rot
• rubbish
• senselessness
• silliness
• slush
• stupidity
• taradiddle
• tarradiddle
• tommyrot
• tosh
• trash
• trumpery
• twaddle

Examples of folderol in a Sentence

I wish we could just discuss these questions without having to go through all the folderol of a formal meeting.

wanted a dignified, simple wedding and not the folderol that the wedding planner was trying to foist on them

Recent Examples on the Web

River has been a de facto protagonist from the start, and life-threatening spy folderol has always been at least a little personal, as his retired spymaster grandfather has featured prominently in the show from the beginning. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2024

Yet Bennett and pianist Ralph Sharon strip away any and all rococo folderol to get to the meat of rejection with their spare, cutting (yet still happily hammy) rendition. —A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 21 July 2023

But beneath the back-and-forth, the folderol exposes a larger weakness of his position. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 11 May 2023

Luse had no use for such modern folderol. —Tom Henderson | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 25 July 2022

Word History

Etymology

fol-de-rol, a nonsense refrain in songs

First Known Use

circa 1820, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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