flatulence

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the presence or release of excessive gas in the digestive system

   Certain beans can cause temporary flatulence in some people.

2. 2
   noun

   rare: inflated, pompous language or style

   The critic dismissed the speech as rhetorical flatulence.

From French flatulence and Latin flatulentia, from flatus, 'a blowing or breath,' ultimately related to flare, 'blow.' The figurative sense compares swollen prose to physical distension.

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