twaddle

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

1782, by alteration of twattle (1556), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ædəl
• (UK) IPA: /ˈtwɒdəl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈtwɑdəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

twaddle (plural twaddles)

1. Empty or silly idle talk or writing; nonsense, rubbish
2. A twaddler.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:chatter

Quotations

nonsense

• 1918, Katherine Mansfield, Prelude, Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, page 118,

  Yet she knew that she'd send it and she'd always write that kind of twaddle to Nan Pym.

rubbish

• 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study In Scarlet, Beeton's Christmas Annual, (Chapter 2 - The Science of Deduction), pages 1-95 (exact page number not known).

  "What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, "I never read such rubbish in my life."

Translations

Empty or silly idle talk or writing; nonsense

Chinese: Mandarin: 胡言乱语 (zh) (hú yán luàn yǔ) Finnish: höpinä (fi), höpötys (fi) Norwegian: pjatt (no) n., tomprat (no) m., tullprat (no) m., løst (no) prat (no)

Polish: paplanina f., gadanina f. Swedish: trams (sv) n., svammel (sv) n., dravel (sv) n., snack (sv) n., pladder (sv) n., babbel (sv) n.

Verb

twaddle (third-person singular simple present twaddles, present participle twaddling, simple past and past participle twaddled)

1. To talk or write nonsense; to prattle.

Translations

To talk or write nonsense

Finnish: höpöttää (fi) Polish: paplać (pl), gadać (pl)

Swedish: svamla (sv), pladdra (sv), babbla (sv)

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:nonsense