Meaning of pablum | Babel Free
ˈpæbləmDefinitions
-
A type of cereal for infants made from cornmeal, oat, and wheat. US, uncountable
-
Alternative letter-case form of Pablum (“a type of cereal for infants made from cornmeal, oat, and wheat”). US, alt-of, uncountable, usually
- Mushy, easily digested food; pap; (countable) a specific type of such food.
- Something overly bland or simplistic, especially speech or writing.
Equivalents
Examples
“The juice from its hydro-power dam was needed to supply⟳ meager light⟳ to a million homes and to cook⟳ the pablum for two million brand-new babies.”
“The smallest of attentions on his wife's part towards the baby […] struck him as having the nature of an affront. Clothes would have⟳ to be bought, a carriage, toys, all manner of pablums and bromides—then even larger clothes, a larger carriage, a longer bed— […]”
“They [tamarinds] can be used to sweeten and season foods such as: […] Cereal products—including Africa's many types of porridges, gruels, and pablums (fufu, ugali, toh, ogi, kisra, pap, couscous, and the rest⟳).”
“"If you want⟳ to be filled with pablum and tranquilizers," [Robert F.] Kennedy told crowds, "then don’t vote⟳ for me. I'm not going to give⟳ you any tired answers. […] I'm going to tell⟳ it like⟳ it is."”
“The Republican argument today is pablum, mush and saccharine. (Which exhausts my edible metaphors.) Do Republicans really think⟳ that America's big problems are "taxes" and "trust⟳"? Give⟳ me a cake.”
“[Adolf] Hitler's career coincided with the growth of these tensions. He offered scapegoats, revenge, nationalism, racial superiority, and prowess at arms—pablums for a nervous people.”
“Maybe we just don’t buy⟳ the pap, pablum and Pollyanification of the Futurama world view⟳ any longer because we are simply more sophisticated than the 1939ers.”
“To me, these points seem bland, boring, obvious—verging on tautology or pablum. To many believers in the worldview I have⟳ described, they are either straightforward heresy or a smokescreen for some real, underlying agenda—which is identified as communism, anarchism, or, somewhat confusingly, both.”
“And it [the Supreme Court] will have⟳ to elaborate on Justice [Anthony] Kennedy's nausea-inducing pablum about liberty and jurisprudences of doubt⟳.”
“A few scientists greeted the hypothesis [the Gaia theory] as a thoughtful way to explain⟳ how living systems influenced the planet. Many others, however, called it New Age pablum.”
“Now your baby is even luckier! He'll enjoy⟳ new flavor variety with four Pablum cereals— […] They're all equally good for Baby—all based on the original Pablum formula. […] Remember⟳—Pablum is the world's first precooked vitamin and mineral enriched cereal, and doctors have⟳ prescribed it for almost twenty years.”
CEFR level
B1
Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B1 vocabulary — intermediate level.
This word is part of the CEFR B1 vocabulary — intermediate level.
Know this word better than we do? Language is a living thing — help us keep it growing. Collaborate with Babel Free