z Fulsome is what the author, editor, and usage expert Bryan A. Garner
calls a VNXQNHGWHUP, that is, a word or term that is undergoing a
change in meaning or usage or is currently disputed. This word
also gives us a delightful example of how word meanings can shift
over time.
z According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, originally, fulsome
ZDVD0LGGOH(QJOLVKFRPSRXQGRIWKHSUH¿[ful-, meaning “full,”
DQG WKH VXI¿[ some, meaning “tending to; to a considerable
degree.” These two parts combined to form the original mid-13th-
century meaning of fulsome: “abundant, full” or, literally, “full to a
considerable degree.”
ż About 100 years later, the meaning of fulsome shifted to
“plump, well-fed,” and by the 1640s, it had taken on a negative
connotation of “overgrown, overfed.” By 1660, the literal
meaning of fulsomeDV³RYHUIHG ́ZDVH[WHQGHGWRD¿JXUDWLYH
meaning to describe language that was so overdone as to be
“offensive to taste and good manners.”
ż 0RVW GLFWLRQDULHV FXUUHQWO\ GH¿QH fulsome as an adjective
meaning “excessively or insincerely lavish; offensive to good
taste, especially as being grossly excessive.”ż But most modern dictionaries also include a usage note because
the meaning of fulsome is currently changing once more.
In fact, fulsome seems to be returning to its original positive
meaning of “abundant.”z According to Garner’s Modern American Usage, fulsome is at
stage 4 of the Language Change Index. At this stage, “The form
becomes virtually universal but is opposed on cogent grounds by a
few linguistic stalwarts.” Once a word reaches stage 4, the battle for
linguistic purity is usually lost. At least for now, it seems as if the
meaning “abundant” for fulsome is here to stay.