nonsense

Formsnonsenses, nonsensing, nonsensed

1. 1
   noununcountable

   Words, ideas, or behavior that are silly and make no sense.

   Like words tossed together that add up to nothing.

   Stop talking nonsense and tell me what really happened.

   Everything written in that flyer turned out to be complete nonsense.

   Similarrubbish, garbage, drivel, absurdity, claptrap

   Oppositesense

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Behavior or talk that is foolish or silly.

   Quit the nonsense and get back to work.

   Their endless nonsense at dinner made everyone laugh.

   Similarfoolishness, silliness, tomfoolery, mischief

   Note
3. 3
   noununcountable

   Letters or words put together that have no meaning.

   Like keys pressed at random on a piano: just noise, no tune.

   The baby babbled happy nonsense to her stuffed animals.

   He typed a line of nonsense to test the broken keyboard.

   Similargibberish, gobbledygook, babble

   Oppositesense

   Note
4. 4
   noununcountable

   Something said that is not true.

   The rumor about the school closing was just nonsense.

   Don't believe that nonsense about the new neighbors.

   Similarrubbish, lies, falsehood, fiction

   Oppositetruth, fact

   Note
5. 5
   interjection

   Used to firmly reject something you have just heard and do not believe.

   "Nonsense! You're never too old to learn," she said.

   "Nonsense," he replied, "we still have plenty of time."

   Similarrubbish

   Note
6. 6
   adjective

   Silly and having no real meaning or sense.

   He gave a nonsense answer that meant nothing at all.

   The form had a few nonsense questions that confused everyone.

   Similarmeaningless, absurd, silly, illogical

   Oppositemeaningful, sensible, logical

7. 7
   noununcountable

   A kind of playful poetry full of strange, made-up ideas.

   Like a poem where the words are a fun game instead of a clear story.

   The teacher read aloud some nonsense, full of invented words and silly rhymes.

   Many children enjoy nonsense more than serious poems.

   Note
8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To treat something as silly or unimportant.

   Like waving away a fly: treating someone's words as not worth your time.

   Officials tried to nonsense the safety concerns raised by workers.

   She nonsensed his objections with a wave of her hand.

   Similardismiss, belittle, rubbish

   Note
9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To joke around or waste time instead of being serious.

   Like goofing off when you should be doing your chores.

   We nonsense around at lunch but work hard the rest of the day.

   The students nonsensed all through the lesson.

   Similarclown, joke, fool

   Note
10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To change something so that it no longer makes sense.

    Like smudging a sign so no one can read it anymore.

    One missing word can nonsense an entire sentence.

    The clumsy translation nonsensed the whole instruction manual.

    Similargarble, muddle

    Note
11. 11
    adjective

    Describing a DNA change that turns a normal code into a stop signal, so a protein cannot be finished.

    Like a period dropped into the middle of a sentence, so the meaning stops too soon.

    A nonsense change in the gene stopped the protein from forming properly.

    Doctors traced the illness to a nonsense mutation in a single gene.

    Note
12. 12
    noununcountable

    A damaged piece of DNA that does nothing useful in the body.

    Like a recipe with the steps scrambled so badly it can't make anything.

    The mutation left a stretch of nonsense where a working gene had been.

    Much of the sequence was nonsense that coded for nothing at all.

    Note

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