moonshine

C2+ Topic:Communication

US /ˈmunʃaɪn/ UK /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
illicitly distilled liquor; foolish or unrealistic talk

His grandfather brewed moonshine in a still up in the hills.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · illicitly distilled liquor;... hoochliquor bootleg nonsense claptrap balderdash

Opposites

sense truth

Word family

Derived forms moonshinermoonshining

Related forms moon moonlight

Etymology

A compound of moon + shine; originally meaning 'moonlight', later 'foolish talk' (something insubstantial) and 'illicit liquor' (distilled by night). Moon from Old English mōna.

mōna Old English scīnan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication

External links

# moonshine

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈmunʃaɪn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/

## Meanings
1. illicitly distilled liquor; foolish or unrealistic talk

## Examples
- His grandfather brewed moonshine in a still up in the hills.

## Synonyms
- hooch
- liquor
- bootleg
- nonsense
- claptrap
- balderdash

## Antonyms
- sense
- truth

## Derived Forms
- moonshiner
- moonshining

## Related Forms
- moon
- moonlight

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: mōna
- Root: scīnan

## Etymology
A compound of moon + shine; originally meaning 'moonlight', later 'foolish talk' (something insubstantial) and 'illicit liquor' (distilled by night). Moon from Old English mōna.

## AI Etymology
Moonshine is a compound of moon + shine; originally meaning 'moonlight', later 'foolish talk' (something insubstantial) and 'illicit liquor' (distilled by night). Moon from Old English mōna. The etymological trail includes Old English mōna and Old English scīnan. As a noun, moonshine means illicitly distilled liquor; foolish or unrealistic talk. The same family is visible in derived forms such as moonshiner and moonshining and related forms such as moon and moonlight. Morphologically, the word is built from the elements named in its history, so the modern form preserves a visible compound, prefix, or suffix structure.

## Topics
- Communication

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