different between disquisition vs bunkum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French disquisition (“disquisition”), from Latin disqu?s?ti? (“inquiry, investigation”), from disqu?r? (“to investigate”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder’) + quaer? (“to look for, seek; to inquire, question”)) + -ti? (suffix forming nouns relating to an action or the result of an action).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?skw??z??(?)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?skw??z???n/
• Rhymes: -???n
• Hyphenation: dis?qui?sit?ion

Noun

disquisition (plural disquisitions)

1. A methodical inquiry or investigation.
2. A lengthy, formal discourse that analyses or explains some topic; (loosely) a dissertation or treatise.

Derived terms

• disquisitional
• disquisitionary

Related terms

• disquisitive
• disquisitor
• disquisitorial
• disquisitory

Translations

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin disqu?s?ti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis.ki.zi.sj??/

Noun

disquisition f (plural disquisitions)

1. (formal) disquisition

References

• “disquisition” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• buncombe

Etymology

From buncombe, from “speaking to (or for) Buncombe County, North Carolina”, a county in North Carolina named for Edward Buncombe. In 1820, Felix Walker, who represented the county in the U.S. House of Representatives, rose to address the question of admitting Missouri as a free or slave state, his first attempt to speak on the subject after nearly a month of solid debate, right before the vote was to be called. To the exasperation of colleagues, he began a long and wearisome speech, explaining that he was speaking not to Congress but "to Buncombe." He was ultimately shouted down by his colleagues, though his speech was published in a Washington paper and his persistence made "buncombe" (later respelled "bunkum") a synonym for meaningless political claptrap and later for any kind of nonsense, at first only in the jargon of Washington and then in common usage (see discussion on talk page).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??k?m/
• Homophone: buncombe
• Hyphenation: bunk?um

Noun

bunkum (countable and uncountable, plural bunkums)

1. (slang, countable) Senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsense

2. (politics) Bombastic political posturing or oratorical display designed only for show or public applause. [1820s]

Derived terms

• bunk
• debunk
• hokum

References