nonsense

B1 Topic:General Vocabulary

Also spelled Narnsense

US /ˈnɑn.sɛns/ UK /ˈnɒn.səns/ See IPA manual

Freq #1524

Meanings

1

noun
Words or ideas that have no meaning or are silly and foolish.

Stop talking nonsense and be serious for a moment.
2

noun
Something that is untrue or completely wrong.

The rumor about the school closing is complete nonsense.
3

intj
Used to strongly reject something you do not believe or agree with.

"You're too old to learn." "Nonsense! You can learn at any age."

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · words or ideas that have no... rubbish

2 noun · something that is untrue or... absurdity falsehood lie

More applesaucebafflegabbalderdash balls baloneybandinibaragouinbatcrapbatshitbilgewaterblah blather

Word family

Derived forms beyonsensediagnonsenseno-nonsensenon-nonsensenonnonsensenonsenselynonsensicnonsensicalnonsensificationnonsensifynonsensityqanonsense

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

nonsense verse
poetry that deliberately uses absurd ideas or meaningless language

Noun + noun

Etymology

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”).

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# nonsense

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, intj
**IPA (US):** /ˈnɑn.sɛns/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈnɒn.səns/
**Frequency rank:** 1524

## Meanings
1. Words or ideas that have no meaning or are silly and foolish.
2. Something that is untrue or completely wrong.
3. Used to strongly reject something you do not believe or agree with.

## Examples
- Stop talking nonsense and be serious for a moment.
- The rumor about the school closing is complete nonsense.
- "You're too old to learn." "Nonsense! You can learn at any age."

## Synonyms
- applesauce
- bafflegab
- balderdash
- balls
- baloney
- bandini
- baragouin
- batcrap
- batshit
- bilgewater
- blah
- blather

## Derived Forms
- beyonsense
- diagnonsense
- no-nonsense
- non-nonsense
- nonnonsense
- nonsensely
- nonsensic
- nonsensical
- nonsensification
- nonsensify
- nonsensity
- qanonsense

## Roots and Affixes
- Affix: non- - not

## Etymology
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”).

## AI Etymology
Nonsense comes 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”). Modern senses include words or ideas that have no meaning or are silly and foolish and something that is untrue or completely wrong. The wider word family includes derivatives such as beyonsense, diagnonsense, no-nonsense, non-nonsense, nonnonsense, and nonsensely.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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