nonsense
See also: non-sense
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
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”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈnɒn.səns/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈnɑn.sɛns/
Audio (US): (file) - (Australia) IPA(key): /ˈnɔn.səns/
- Hyphenation: non‧sense
- Rhymes: -ɒnsɛns, -ɒnsəns
Noun
[edit]
nonsense (usually uncountable, plural nonsenses)
- Letters or words, in writing or speech, that have no meaning or pattern or seem to have no meaning.
- After my father had a stroke, every time he tried to talk, it sounded like nonsense.
- An untrue statement.
- 1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 21:
- You have seen it for yourselves in the play by Aristophanes, where Socrates goes whirling round, proclaiming that he is walking on air, and uttering a great deal of other nonsense about things of which I know nothing whatsoever.
- 2022 April 13, “Man Gets Arrested Twice in One Day”, in Code Blue Cam:
- While at the hospital, David kept screaming and yelling nonsense, stating Vladimir Putin bailed him out of jail and is a god.
- That which is silly, illogical and lacks any meaning, reason or value; that which does not make sense.
- Something foolish.
- 2008 October 9, “Nick Leeson has some lessons for this collapse”, in Telegraph.co.uk:
- and central banks lend vast sums against marshmallow backed securities, or other nonsenses creative bankers dreamed up.
- (literature) A type of poetry that contains strange or surreal ideas, as, for example, that written by Edward Lear.
- (biology) A damaged DNA sequence whose products are not biologically active, that is, that does nothing.
Synonyms
[edit]- See Thesaurus:nonsense
- (untrue statement): falsehood, lie, untruth, absurdity, rubbish, tosh
- (that which is silly, illogical): absurdity, silliness, contradiction, stupidity, unreasoning
Derived terms
[edit]Collocations
[edit]Collocations
- utter nonsense
- sheer nonsense
- complete nonsense
- absolute nonsense
- pure nonsense
- downright nonsense
- perfect nonsense
- silly nonsense
- superstitious nonsense
- romantic nonsense
- childish nonsense
Translations
[edit]meaningless words — see also gibberish
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type of poetry
damaged DNA sequence
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Verb
[edit]nonsense (third-person singular simple present nonsenses, present participle nonsensing, simple past and past participle nonsensed)
- To make nonsense of;
- a. 1909, Bernard Shaw, “The Red Robe”, in James Huneker, editor, Dramatic Opinions and Essays by G. Bernard Shaw, volume 2, page 73:
- At the Haymarket all this is nonsensed by an endeavor to steer between Mr. Stanley Weyman's rights as author of the story and the prescriptive right of the leading actor to fight popularly and heroically against heavy odds.
- To attempt to dismiss as nonsense; to ignore or belittle the significance of something; to render unimportant or puny.
- 1997 June 3, “Rockies respond to whip”, in Denver Post:
- "They haven't nonsensed these workouts. They've taken them and used them very well. I didn't know how they'd respond, but they've responded."
- 2000, Leon Garfield, Jason Cockcroft, Jack Holborn, page 131:
- Very commanding: very much 'end of this nonsensing'. Mister Fared spread his hands and shook his thin head imperceptibly, as if to say he understood.
- 2006 March 17, “Sierra Leone: Petroleum Unit Calls for Auditing”, in AllAfrica.com:
- He further nonsensed press suggestions that the Petroleum Unit was set up to assist in the administration of sporting activities.
- (intransitive) To joke around, to waste time
- 1963, C. F. Griffin, The Impermanence of Heroes, page 170:
- When he meant "go and get one" he said to go and get one, with no nonsensing around about "liking" to get one.
Adjective
[edit]nonsense (comparative more nonsense, superlative most nonsense)
- Nonsensical.
- (biochemistry) Resulting from the substitution of a nucleotide in a sense codon, causing it to become a stop codon (not coding for an amino-acid).
Translations
[edit]nonsensical — see nonsensical
resulting from the substitution of a nucleotide in a sense codon, causing it to become a stop codon
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Interjection
[edit]nonsense
- An emphatic rejection of something one has just heard and does not believe or agree with.
- 2023 January 11, Philip Haigh, “Comment: The worst chaos for 40 years”, in RAIL, number 974, page 4:
- The operators present this as a passenger benefit by claiming it provides early notice. Nonsense! This just means that passengers can't find any information about the train they thought they were catching. It simply disappears.
Translations
[edit]emphatic rejection
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See also
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “nonsense”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “nonsense”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “nonsense”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “nonsense” (US) / “nonsense” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
Finnish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]nonsense
- nonsense (type of poetry)
Declension
[edit]| Inflection of nonsense (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | nonsense | nonsenset | |
| genitive | nonsensen | nonsensejen | |
| partitive | nonsensea | nonsenseja | |
| illative | nonsenseen | nonsenseihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | nonsense | nonsenset | |
| accusative | nom. | nonsense | nonsenset |
| gen. | nonsensen | ||
| genitive | nonsensen | nonsensejen nonsensein rare | |
| partitive | nonsensea | nonsenseja | |
| inessive | nonsensessa | nonsenseissa | |
| elative | nonsensesta | nonsenseista | |
| illative | nonsenseen | nonsenseihin | |
| adessive | nonsensella | nonsenseilla | |
| ablative | nonsenselta | nonsenseilta | |
| allative | nonsenselle | nonsenseille | |
| essive | nonsensena | nonsenseina | |
| translative | nonsenseksi | nonsenseiksi | |
| abessive | nonsensetta | nonsenseitta | |
| instructive | — | nonsensein | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||
Further reading
[edit]- “nonsense”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023
Mauritian Creole
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]nonsense
Alternative forms
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ís
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *né
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *h₁óynos
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *sent- (perceive)
- English terms prefixed with non- (not)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɒnsɛns
- Rhymes:English/ɒnsɛns/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɒnsəns
- Rhymes:English/ɒnsəns/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Literature
- en:Biology
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English adjectives
- en:Biochemistry
- English interjections
- Finnish terms borrowed from English
- Finnish terms derived from English
- Finnish 2-syllable words
- Finnish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Finnish/onsens
- Rhymes:Finnish/onsens/2 syllables
- Finnish lemmas
- Finnish nouns
- Finnish nalle-type nominals
- Mauritian Creole terms borrowed from English
- Mauritian Creole terms derived from English
- Mauritian Creole terms with IPA pronunciation
- Mauritian Creole lemmas
- Mauritian Creole nouns