puffery
Exaggerated promotional claims
Puffery is exaggerated praise or promotion, especially in advertising—claims so obviously overblown that no reasonable person would take them literally.
The best coffee in the world or nothing runs like a Deere qualify as puffery rather than false advertising because they're understood as opinion, not fact.
The word carries a deflating connotation: calling something puffery dismisses it as empty bluster.
Vain, empty self-promotion
- swaggerConfident, boastful manner
- vaingloryBoastful, unwarranted pride
- egotismInflated sense of self-importance
- arroganceExcessive self-importance
conceit · bravado · hubris · self-importance · grandiosity · pomposity · bluster · bombast
Promoting goods to consumers
- promotionRank increase or publicity
- hypeExaggerated promotional fanfare
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- buzzContinuous low drone
pitch · endorsement · slogan · branding · publicity · sensationalism · gimmickry · ballyhoo
Rhetorical extreme exaggeration
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
- inflationSustained price level increase
aggrandizement · superlative · overemphasis · dramatization · magnification · overestimation · grandiloquence · stretching
Obsequious behavior toward authority
- adulationExtravagant, servile praise
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- sweet-talkFlatter to persuade
- obsequiousnessServile eagerness to please
toadyism · smooth-talking · overpraise · schmoozing · soft-soap · unctuousness · ingratiating · blandishments
braggadocio
Vain, empty self-promotion
- swaggerConfident, boastful manner
- vaingloryBoastful, unwarranted pride
- egotismInflated sense of self-importance
arrogance · conceit · bravado · hubris · self-importance · grandiosity · pomposity · bluster · bombast · cockiness
marketing
Promoting goods to consumers
- promotionRank increase or publicity
- hypeExaggerated promotional fanfare
- spinRapid rotation around axis
buzz · pitch · endorsement · slogan · branding · publicity · sensationalism · gimmickry · ballyhoo · fanfare
hyperbole
Rhetorical extreme exaggeration
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- amplificationIncrease in intensity
inflation · aggrandizement · superlative · overemphasis · dramatization · magnification · overestimation · grandiloquence · stretching · distortion
sycophancy
Obsequious behavior toward authority
- adulationExtravagant, servile praise
- fawningExcessive insincere flattery
- sweet-talkFlatter to persuade
obsequiousness · toadyism · smooth-talking · overpraise · schmoozing · soft-soap · unctuousness · ingratiating · blandishments · cajolery
hogwash
Foolish or untrue talk
drivel · hokum · bunk · tripe · twaddle · codswallop · humbug · rubbish · balderdash · flimflam
- advertisingad, ads, ad campaign, ad campaigns, advertising campaign
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blarney, blather
- exaggerationhyperbole, overstatement, exaggeration, magnification, amplification
- showboatingshowing off, bragging, boasting, grandstanding, posturing
- bombastbombast, grandiloquence, magniloquence, pomposity, fustian
- legal adslegal ads, landing pages, disclaimers, testimonials, ethics rules
pufferydisparagement
Criticism meant to diminish
belittlement · detraction · denigration · deprecation · criticism
pufferycandor
Unguarded truthfulness
truthfulness · straight talk · forthrightness · unvarnished truth · honesty
pufferyunderstatement
Intentional diminishment for effect
modesty · humility · restraint · self-deprecation · litotes
- puffed upInflated or conceited
- huffed and puffedBreathed hard from exertion
- puffed up chest
- puffer jacketInsulated quilted outerwear
- puffed riceSteam-expanded cereal grain
- puffed outInflated beyond normal size