as in rhetoric
marked by the use of impressive-sounding but mostly meaningless words and phrases
on election night TV's self-important pundits let loose a fusillade of flatulent pontifications
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Recent Examples of flatulent
This time, the technique is turned upon classic alien invasion movies of the Golden Age with liberal helpings of pure human stupidity as a seemingly peaceful first contact moment goes awry and gets bloody, leading to a solar system-ending flatulent finish.
—
Jeff Spry, Space.com, 17 May 2025
The waggish jeer that subverts the Reich Chancellery, designed by Adolf Hitler's chief architect, Albert Speer, must have sent the woman who chastises children for flatulent folly into a tizzy.
—Natasha Gural, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
Slough House is headed by the slovenly, flatulent, and frequently intoxicated Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who routinely heaps verbal abuse on his staff but is nonetheless a brilliant spymaster in his own smelly way.
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
Climate change is causing various ant species of Colorado’s Gregory Canyon to alter their traditional ranges, the shells of East Coast mussels to grow more porous, herring to arrive earlier in the Wadden Sea, and Australian scientists to urge the breeding of less flatulent cows.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for flatulent
Jeff Spry, Space.com, 17 May 2025
The waggish jeer that subverts the Reich Chancellery, designed by Adolf Hitler's chief architect, Albert Speer, must have sent the woman who chastises children for flatulent folly into a tizzy.
—Natasha Gural, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
Slough House is headed by the slovenly, flatulent, and frequently intoxicated Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who routinely heaps verbal abuse on his staff but is nonetheless a brilliant spymaster in his own smelly way.
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
Climate change is causing various ant species of Colorado’s Gregory Canyon to alter their traditional ranges, the shells of East Coast mussels to grow more porous, herring to arrive earlier in the Wadden Sea, and Australian scientists to urge the breeding of less flatulent cows.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for flatulent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flatulent
rhetorical
Adjective
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These messages are more than rhetorical escalation.—
Stephanie A,
The Conversation,
15 Oct. 2025
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But Chicago and New York are Democratic strongholds and frequent targets of the president’s rhetorical ire, so the moves on spending are plainly perceived as a new front in the shutdown battle.—
Niall Stanage,
The Hill,
5 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Flatulent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flatulent. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.
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