nonsensical
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See also: non-sensical
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- nonsensic (very rare)
- non-sensical
Etymology[edit]
Adjective[edit]
nonsensical (comparative more nonsensical, superlative most nonsensical)
- Without sense; absurd.
- Synonyms: meaningless, unmeaning, absurd, foolish, irrational, preposterous
- Antonyms: comprehensible, logical, rational, sensible, sensical
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Prudence in Politics”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 179:
- Well, her very foolish grandmother has mixed herself up in some nonsensical correspondence with the court of St. Germains; or, rather, has let herself be made a tool by Mr. Trevanion, who, I am happy to say, is not Ethel's husband; they arrested him just in time.
Usage notes[edit]
- The form non-sensical is much less common while nonsensic is extremely rare.[1]
- Webster 1828 defined this as "Unmeaning; absurd; foolish." Webster 1913 defined this as "Without sense; unmeaning; absurd; foolish; irrational; preposterous."
Related terms[edit]
Collocations[edit]
Nouns often used with "nonsensical"
words, things, idea, notion, results, question, language, way, talk, statement, situation, story, argument, reasons, stuff, books, jargon, theory, assumption, interpretation
Translations[edit]
without sense
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References[edit]
- ^ nonsensical,([non - sensical*100),(nonsensic*10000)] at Google Ngram Viewer
Further reading[edit]
- “nonsensical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “nonsensical”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “nonsensical”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “nonsensical” (US) / “nonsensical” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
- "nonsensical" in WordNet 3.1, Princeton University, 2011.