blarney
Charming insincere talk
Blarney is smooth, flattering talk designed to persuade or charm—often with a hint of insincerity.
Someone full of blarney knows how to sweet-talk their way through situations: Don't give me that blarney; I know what you're really after.
The word suggests clever manipulation wrapped in friendliness rather than outright deception.
To blarney someone is to coax them with such flattery. (Capitalized Blarney refers to the Irish village and its famous stone.)
Flatter to persuade
- smooth-talkingCharmingly persuasive in speech
- complimentsExpressions of admiration
- ingratiationDeliberate favor-seeking behavior
- adulationExtravagant, servile praise
fawning · sycophancy · flannel · charm · cajolery · soft soap · honeyed words · apple-polishing
Insincere foolish talk
- baloneyFoolish talk, slang
- poppycockFoolish or meaningless talk
- hogwashFoolish or untrue talk
- claptrapInsincere, pretentious language
bunk · bunkum · drivel · twaddle · codswallop · tommyrot · hooey · rubbish
Persuading through gentle persistence
- wheedlingPersuading through flattery
- convincingAble to persuade
- cajolingPersuading through flattery
- disarmingAllaying suspicion through warmth
charming · enticing · seducing · sweet-talking · ingratiating · schmoozing · glad-handing · working
Persuasively articulate speaker
- glibSuperficially articulate
- smoothWithout roughness or difficulty
- volubleInclined to talk freely
- articulateExpress clearly, or well-spoken
fluent · persuasive · gift of gab · witty · loquacious · verbal dexterity · slick · facile
Deliberate deception or fraud
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- chicaneryDeception through clever manipulation
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
artifice · deceit · cunning · hoodwinking · bamboozling · dissembling · craftiness · slyness
sweet-talk
Flatter to persuade
- smooth-talkingCharmingly persuasive in speech
- complimentsExpressions of admiration
- ingratiationDeliberate favor-seeking behavior
adulation · fawning · sycophancy · flannel · charm · cajolery · soft soap · honeyed words · apple-polishing · bootlicking
malarkey
Insincere foolish talk
claptrap · bunk · bunkum · drivel · twaddle · codswallop · tommyrot · hooey · rubbish · gibberish
coaxing
Persuading through gentle persistence
- wheedlingPersuading through flattery
- convincingAble to persuade
- cajolingPersuading through flattery
disarming · charming · enticing · seducing · sweet-talking · ingratiating · schmoozing · glad-handing · working
silver-tongued
Persuasively articulate speaker
articulate · fluent · persuasive · gift of gab · witty · loquacious · verbal dexterity · slick · facile · mellifluous
trickery
Deliberate deception or fraud
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- chicaneryDeception through clever manipulation
duplicity · artifice · deceit · cunning · hoodwinking · bamboozling · dissembling · craftiness · slyness · fast-talking
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blather, bunk
- flatteryflatter, praise, compliment, compliments, adulation
- Irish AmericanaIrish diaspora, Irish heritage, Irish identity, Irish traditions, Irish Catholic
- Irish Gaelicfocal, cat, bean, teach, la
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- Irish-AmericanIrish-American, Irish American, Irish heritage, Irish diaspora, Irish immigrants
blarneyhonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
candor · sincerity · truthfulness · straight talk · frankness
blarneycriticism
Judgment of faults
disparagement · put-down · harsh words · belittlement · depreciation
blarneybluntness
Frank, unvarnished manner
plainness · terseness · brusqueness · curtness · taciturnity
- Blarney StoneRock said to bestow eloquence
- Blarney CastleIrish keep with famed stone