garble

American  

[gahr-buhl] / ˈgɑr bəl /

verb (used with object)

garbled, garbling

1. to confuse unintentionally or ignorantly; jumble.

   to garble instructions.

2. to make unfair or misleading selections from or arrangement of (fact, statements, writings, etc.); distort.

   to garble a quotation.

3. Archaic. to take out the best of.

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noun

1. the act or process of garbling.

2. an instance of garbling; a garbled phrase, literary passage, etc.

garble British  

/ ˈɡɑːbəl /

verb

1. to jumble (a story, quotation, etc), esp unintentionally

2. to distort the meaning of (an account, text, etc), as by making misleading omissions; corrupt

3. rare to select the best part of

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noun

1. 1. the act of garbling

   2. garbled matter

Other Word Forms

• garbleable adjective
• garbler noun
• ungarbled adjective

Etymology

Origin of garble

1400–50; late Middle English garbelen to remove refuse from spices < Old Italian garbellare to sift < Arabic gharbala < Late Latin crībellāre, derivative of crībellum, diminutive of Latin crībrum sieve ( -elle ); probably influenced by garboil

Example Sentences

Subtitles wouldn’t be the worst idea, though a sibling garble is part of their brand.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025

Image: Meta When you use Voice Mode to garble the speech of those around you an icon will appear above your display name to indicate that you can’t hear what strangers are saying.

From The Verge • Jun. 14, 2022

Unlike vaccines or antibodies that target the spike protein on the surface of the virus, molnupiravir works by introducing genetic errors that garble the coronavirus’s genetic code and stop it from making copies of itself.

From Washington Post • Oct. 1, 2021

Burton said even through his neighbor’s German accent, he heard him garble the phrase.

From Fox News • Sep. 24, 2021

Waves, colored zigzags, a garble of sound: it’s the Montreal satellite station, being blocked.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

• misinterpret