Skip to main content
full of tripe

full of tripe

8.6
Ideas or statements that are mostly nonsense and have little worth
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : lleno de tonterías
  • His explanation was full of tripe and convinced no one.

Examples

  • The article was criticized for being full of tripe and lacking substance.

  • People were annoyed because the report was simply full of tripe from start to finish.

  • His latest book is full of tripe.

  • Why is your argument full of tripe?

  • The presentation was full of tripe, leaving the audience confused and uninterested.

  • Despite its flashy cover, the novel was full of tripe and offered little in terms of plot.

  • Many critics found the documentary to be full of tripe, making it difficult to take seriously.

Synonyms

nothing but nonsense
vsfull of tripe
  • Informal
1 6.0

Things people say that are completely untrue or pointless

refers to mainly worthless material rather than strictly false statements
all hollow
vsfull of tripe
1 9.9

Shows no real feeling and is not sincere

means worthless material but with neutral tone, not emotional insincerity
substanceless
vsfull of tripe
1 7.5

Not having real importance or value

is about mostly worthless content rather than just lacking importance
contentless
vsfull of tripe
1 7.0

Not having useful information or any real meaning

focuses on worthless or meaningless material rather than neutral emptiness
nothing but tripe
vsfull of tripe
  • Informal
9.5

Words or ideas that are complete nonsense and worthless

is more general, meaning mostly worthless material rather than total absurdity
filled with crap
vsfull of tripe
  • Vulgar
9.7

Something that contains a lot of nonsense and useless information

focuses on general worthlessness rather than specifically poor quality
full of bogosity
vsfull of tripe
  • Slang
9.9

Containing many false or silly statements that are hard to believe

highlights nonsense content generally, not only falsehood or lies

Antonyms

526 2.5

Very useful and important, for example advice or skills

327 3.3

Something that has a clear purpose or that is important

How Meaningful

meaningful
327 3.3
useful
947 1.0
meaningless
226 5.1
full of tripe
  • Archaic
8.6
trivial
121 3.9

Surface Forms

full of tripe positive

Morphology

full + of + tripe

The phrase is a straightforward composition: 'full of' (completely filled with) plus 'tripe' (nonsense) yields 'filled with nonsense', so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings can infer the idiomatic sense. Only if a learner knows only the literal culinary sense of 'tripe' (animal offal) would the phrase be confusing, but given the provided constituent definition it is transparently compositional.

Etymology

Full of tripe may come from the cheap animal food called tripe, the stomach lining people once ate and often thought was poor quality and tasteless. So saying something is full of tripe makes a picture of it being full of useless stuff, which is why it means 'nonsense'.