nonsense
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.words or ideas that have no meaning or do not make sense.
n.spoken or written communication that lacks coherent meaning or logical structure.
Simple“The toddler was just speaking nonsense that nobody could understand.”
In context“The witness's testimony was complete nonsense, filled with internal contradictions that the lawyer quickly exposed during cross-examination.”
- 02 B1 Intermediate
n.silly or annoying behaviour that lacks a good reason.
n.conduct or ideas that are considered foolish, illogical, or trivial.
Simple“Stop this nonsense and get back to your homework immediately.”
In context“The manager refused to put up with any more nonsense from the staff regarding the new safety protocols.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
n.a type of poetry or stories that use strange and funny ideas that do not follow logic.
n.a category of literature, particularly poetry, that balances elements of language and logic against those that defy them.
Simple“Edward Lear is famous for writing nonsense poems like 'The Owl and the Pussy-cat'.”
In context“Victorian nonsense literature often served as a subtle critique of the rigid social and linguistic hierarchies of the era.”
Synonymssurrealism - 04 C2 Proficiency
n.a mistake in a DNA sequence that stops a gene from working correctly.
n.a genetic mutation in which a codon is changed to a stop codon, resulting in a truncated and usually non-functional protein.
Simple“A nonsense mutation in the gene caused the protein to be too short.”
In context“The researchers identified a nonsense mutation that prematurely terminated the translation process, leading to a severe form of the hereditary disorder.”
Antonymsmissense - 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.describing something that does not make sense.
adj.having no intelligible meaning; often used in technical contexts to describe sequences.
Simple“The computer produced a nonsense string of characters after the crash.”
In context“The algorithm was designed to filter out nonsense data points that could skew the final statistical analysis.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 06 C2 Proficiency
v.to treat something as if it is not important or to ignore it.
v.to dismiss or belittle the significance of an argument or person; to render something unimportant.
Simple“Don't try to nonsense your way out of this mistake.”
In context“The opposition attempted to nonsense the government's latest economic report, claiming the figures were manipulated.”
UsageOften used in political or argumentative contexts.
Antonyms
“With parliament not sitting and many people on holiday, there is less proper news than normal, which means the nonsense stories get (even) more attention than usual.”
“All the nonsense.” He talks about the silly names they invented for characters.”
From non- (“no, none, lack of”) + sense, from c. 1610. Compare the semantically similar West Frisian ûnsin (“nonsense”), Dutch onzin (“nonsense”), German Unsinn (“nonsense”), English unsense (“nonsense”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.