blah
English
Etymology
- Sense “Idle, meaningless talk” (1940), probably imitative or echoic in origin. Perhaps, but cf Greek "barbarbar” ‘unintelligible sounds’ (Grillo 1989:174).
- Adjective sense “bland, dull” (1919), perhaps influenced by (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French blasé (“bored, indifferent”).
- The blahs (“boredom, mild depression”) first attested 1969; extension of adjective sense and influenced by term the blues.
- Also may be connected with bleat
GRILLO, R.D. 1989. Dominant languages: Language and hierarchy in Britain and France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pronunciation
Noun
blah (countable and uncountable, plural blahs)
- (uncountable, informal) Nonsense; drivel; idle, meaningless talk.
- (informal) (in plural, the blahs) A general or ambiguous feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, uneasiness, boredom, mild depression, etc.
Synonyms
- (nonsense, drivel): bosh, bombast, bunkum, claptrap, eyewash, fustian, rant, hooey, humbug, rubbish, twaddle
- (feeling of boredom, mild depression): malaise
Translations
nonsense talk
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Adjective
blah (comparative more blah, superlative most blah)
- (informal) Dull; uninteresting; insipid.
- Well, the new restaurant seems nice, but their menu is a little blah.
- (informal) Low in spirit or health; down.
- I decided to go exercise rather than sit around all day feeling blah.
Interjection
blah
- An expression of mild frustration.
- Blah! Why can't I get this computer to work!
- (When spoken repeatedly, often three times in succession: blah blah blah!) Imitative of idle, meaningless talk; used sometimes in a slightly derogatory manner to mock or downplay another's words, or to show disinterest in a diatribe, rant, instructions, unsolicited advice, parenting, etc. Also used when recalling and retelling another's words, as a substitute for the portions of the speech deemed irrelevant.
- Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, Mom, you said this all yesterday.
- And then he was like, "Oh, my brother's an Internet millionaire, blah blah blah." Like I care!
- Representing the sound of vomiting. See bleah, bleh.
Alternative forms
- (boring content): blah blah, blah blah blah
Synonyms
- (boring content): yada yada yada
Translations
expression of mild frustration
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imitative of meaningless talk
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the sound of vomiting
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
blah (third-person singular simple present blahs, present participle blahing, simple past and past participle blahed)
- (intransitive) To utter idle, meaningless talk.
- 2014, Shelagh Stephenson, Ancient Lights, page 28:
- Ooh, I feel so guilty, I've got far too much money — […] So give it away, endow a charitable foundation, burn it, but stop blahing on about it […]
- 2015, Tony Blair, Jeremy Corbyn’s politics are fantasy – just like Alice in Wonderland (in The Guardian, 29 August 2015) [1]
- Someone else said to me: “If you’re writing something again, don’t blah on about winning elections; it really offends them.”
See also
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms derived from French
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɑː
- English lemmas
- English nouns
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- English informal terms
- English adjectives
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