Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

nonsense

American  
[non-sens, -suhns] / ˈnɒn sɛns, -səns /

noun

  1. words or language having little or no sense or meaning.

    Synonyms:
    twaddle, trumpery, trash, tommyrot, rubbish, rot, poppycock, piffle, moonshine, humbug, hooey, hokum, guff, gibberish, foolishness, folderol, flapdoodle, fiddle-faddle, drivel, bunk, bull, bosh, blether, blatherskite, blather, blarney, bilge water, bilge, baloney, balderdash
  2. conduct, action, etc., that is senseless, foolish, or absurd.

    to have tolerated enough nonsense.

  3. impudent, insubordinate, or otherwise objectionable behavior.

    He doesn't have to take that nonsense from you.

  4. something absurd or fatuous.

    the utter nonsense of such a suggestion.

  5. anything of trifling importance or of little or no use.

  6. Genetics. a DNA sequence that does not code for an amino acid and is not transcribed (sense ).


nonsense British  
/ nɒnˈsɛnsɪkəl, ˈnɒnsəns /

noun

  1. something that has or makes no sense; unintelligible language; drivel

  2. conduct or action that is absurd

  3. foolish or evasive behaviour or manners

    she'll stand no nonsense

  4. See no-nonsense

  5. things of little or no value or importance; trash

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

interjection

  1. an exclamation of disagreement

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
nonsense Scientific  
/ nŏnsĕns′ /
  1. Relating to a mutation in a structural gene that changes a nucleotide triplet into a stop codon, thus prematurely terminating the polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.

  2. See more at point mutation


nonsense Idioms  

Other Word Forms

  • nonsensical adjective
  • nonsensically adverb
  • nonsensicalness noun

Etymology

Origin of nonsense

First recorded in 1605–15; non- + sense

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

At 10 he pondered Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s definition of the Russians as a “God-bearing nation” and concluded that “all national stereotypes were nonsense.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Not far away in Minsk, the man who has ruled Belarus for three decades, Alexander Lukashenko, dismisses all the talk of hybrid warfare as "nonsense".

From BBC

Mr. Russell helps readers contextualize James’s reputation, which has been pickled in generations of macho nonsense.

From The Wall Street Journal

Bongino responded on X, saying the report was “gossipy nonsense” from sources with “a clear agenda.”

From Salon

As with much of the asinine ponderings coming from the Silicon Valley billionaire class, there’s a pseudo-intellectual rationale to prop up this nonsense.

From Salon