Meaning of nonsense in English

nonsense
noun
us
/ˈnɑːn.sens/ uk
/ˈnɒn.səns/
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B2 [ S or U ]
an idea, something said or written, or behavior that is silly or stupid:
This report is nonsense and nothing but a waste of paper.
The accusations are (absolute/complete/utter) nonsense.
Nonsense/Don't talk nonsense! She's far too ill to return to work!
You mustn't upset your sister with any more nonsense about ghosts.
[ + to infinitive ] It's (a) nonsense to say that he's too old for the job.
[ U ]
language that cannot be understood because it does not mean anything:
The translation of the instructions was so poor they were just nonsense.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Nonsense
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Idioms

make (a) nonsense of something
not stand any nonsense
(Definition of nonsense from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

nonsense | Intermediate English

nonsense
noun [ U ]
us
/ˈnɑnˌsens, -səns/
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foolish words or actions:
Those accusations are pure/sheer nonsense.
What’s all this nonsense about quitting school?
Nonsense is also language that cannot be understood or that has no meaning.

nonsensical

adjective [ not gradable ] us
/nɑnˈsen·sɪ·kəl/
(Definition of nonsense from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of nonsense

nonsense
To say this is nonsense would be a gross understatement.
From CNBC
What a retread from the 80s, spouting the same nonsense.
From CNN
But can we stop this nonsense of it being offensive to nerdom?
From Dallas Morning News
You need to do a little research before spouting off such nonsense.
From CNN
Who do they think will fall for this nonsense?
From Huffington Post
What does he believe, in addition to the other nonsense?
From CNN
I bet when we find out what happened, it's going to be nonsense.
From New York Post
Simply saying "it's complex or it looks like a man-made machine, so it's designed" is nonsense.
From Phys.Org
But it is total nonsense that second hand smoke causes this.
From CNN
He utters self-aggrandizing fictions and gets angry when fact-checkers show them to be nonsense.
From Los Angeles Times
How much tax money is being wasted on this nonsense?
From CNN
Could someone please find evidence of babies getting sick from a used breast pump before spouting this nonsense?
From CNN
I needed to step away from this dark nonsense.
From The Seattle Times
No more of this nonsense of land reform; there would be no trappings of democracy, no free trade union.
From NPR
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with nonsense

nonsense

These are words often used in combination with nonsense.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

absolute nonsense
This is an absolute nonsense, and the labelling is designed to fool the consumers.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
a lot of nonsense
The time factor is a lot of nonsense.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
complete nonsense
Nevertheless, speaking with a heavy accent is preferable to talking complete nonsense, and what really matters is that the language is meaningful in terms of influencing behaviour.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
See all collocations with nonsense
What is the pronunciation of nonsense?
 
B2

Translations of nonsense

in Chinese (Traditional)
愚蠢的想法, 謬論, 胡扯…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
愚蠢的想法, 谬论, 胡扯…
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in Spanish
tonterías, disparates, sinsentido [masculine…
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in Portuguese
bobagem, idiotice, besteira…
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in Italian
बाष्कळपणा, निरर्थक बडबड, निरर्थक…
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ナンセンス、無意味, 無意味な行動, ばかげた行動…
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anlamsız/boş söz, safsata, lakırdı…
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absurdités [feminine, plural], comportement déraisonnable ou idiot…
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bestieses, disbarats, ximpleries…
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onzin…
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(विचार, कोई कथन या लेख या व्यवहार) बकवास, अनापशनाप…
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બકવાસ, અર્ચહીન (વિચાર, કોઈ કથન અથવા લેખ અથવા વ્યવહાર)…
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vrøvl…
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kata-kata yang tidak bermakna…
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der Unsinn…
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tull [neuter], sludder, vås…
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بیہودہ, فضول, لغو…
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дурниця, нісенітниця…
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чепуха, абсурд, вздор…
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మూర్ఖంగా లేదా తుంటరిగా చెప్పబడిన లేదా వ్రాయబడిన లేదా ప్రవర్తించబడిన ఒక భావన, అర్థం లేని, ఏమీ అర్థం లేని…
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هُراء, تَصَرُّف سَخيف…
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আজেবাজে কথা, অর্থহীন বিষয়…
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nesmysl…
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omong kosong…
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การพูดสิ่งไร้สาระ…
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điều vô lý…
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bzdura, nonsens, bzdury…
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말도 안되는 것, 말도 안되는 행동…
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sciocchezze, nonsenso, assurdità…
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nonscientific
nonsecretory
nonsectarian
nonsecure
nonsense
nonsense syllable
nonsense verse
nonsense word
nonsensical

Word of the Day

ingenious

UK
/ɪnˈdʒiː.ni.əs/
US
/ɪnˈdʒiː.ni.əs/

(of a person) very intelligent and skilful, or (of a thing) skilfully made or planned and involving new ideas and methods

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