Fulsome

 WORD OF THE DAY

fulsome / adjective / FULL-sum

Definition
1a: characterized by abundance
1b: copius
1c: generous in amount, extent, or spirit
1d: being full and well developed
2: aesthetically, morally, or generally offensive
3a: exceeding the bounds of good taste
3b: overdone
4a: excessively complimentary or flattering
4b: effusive

Examples
"The county executive isn't opposed in principle to bonds for housing, but thinks county leaders need to have a more fulsome discussion about tradeoffs such debt would require."
— Dan Brendel, The Washington (D.C.) Business Journal, 10 May 2022

There are fulsome discussions around ensuring a person with a juvenile record of violence or mental health struggles cannot get hold of such a weapon upon turning 18, when many juvenile records are expunged.
— Jennifer Haberkornstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2022

Did You Know?
In the 19th century, fulsome was mostly a literary term used disapprovingly to describe excessive, insincere praise and flattery.
This meaning is still current, but since the early 20th century fulsome has been increasingly used with far more positive meanings, among them “abundant, copious” and “full and well developed.”
The result is some amount of confusion: a phrase like “fulsome praise” used today without clarifying context may rightly be understood to mean either “abundant praise” or “excessive and obsequious praise.”
While some critics object to the pleasanter meanings of fulsome, they are in fact true to the word’s origins: when it was first used in the 14th century fulsome meant “abundant, copious.”

The senses shown above are the chief living senses of fulsome. Sense 2, which was a generalized term of disparagement in the late 17th century, is the least common of these.
Fulsome became a point of dispute when sense 1, thought to be obsolete in the 19th century, began to be revived in the 20th.
The dispute was exacerbated by the fact that the large dictionaries of the first half of the century missed the beginnings of the revival. Sense 1 has not only been revived but has spread in its application and continues to do so.
The chief danger for the user of fulsome is ambiguity. Unless the context is made very clear, the reader or hearer cannot be sure whether such an expression as "fulsome praise" is meant in sense 1b or in sense 4.