Meanings
- humorousuncountableAvoiding one's duties and responsibilities by claiming to have appointments to see a fictitious person.
Besides, now that I know you to be a confirmed Bunburyist I naturally want to talk to you about Bunburying. I want to tell you the rules.
1895, Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest […] , [Act I]3 more examples
This financial "Bunburying" solves the problem of how to let banking organizations make high yield investments in order to improve overall earnings without risking the kind of public opposition, and loss of public confidence in banks, that took place in the 1930s [...]
1991, Helen A. Garten, Why Bank Regulation Failed: Designing a Bank Regulatory Strategy for the 1990sAlison frequently went Bunburying in London although she called it Networking. As far as Nick could make out it consisted of having long, boozy lunches with other businesswomen.
1994, Susan B. Kelly, Time of HopeJames and Louise Forsyth owned a country house "older than Shakespeare's" in Haywards Heath, Sussex; there Owen spent three days stroking the pet sheep and admiring the view, Bunburying at its best.
1995, James Hatch, Sorrow Is the Only Faithful One
Origin
From Bunbury + -ing, coined by Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) after Bunbury, the fictitious disabled friend of the character Algernon whose supposed illness is used as an excuse to avoid social engagements.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Bunburying. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bunburying
“Bunburying.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bunburying. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bunburying,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bunburying.
Source: Bunburying on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.