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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!"
Examples of folderol in a Sentence
Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 July 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for folderol
Cite this Entry
“Folderol.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/folderol. Accessed 31 Jul. 2025.
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