jabberwocky

[ jab-er-wok-ee ]

noun

, plural jab·ber·wock·ies.

1. a playful imitation of language consisting of invented, meaningless words; nonsense; gibberish.
2. an example of writing or speech consisting of or containing meaningless words.

adjective

1. consisting of or comparable to meaningless words; meaningless; senseless.

jabberwocky

/ ˈdʒæbəˌwɒkɪ /

noun

1. nonsense verse

Word History and Origins

Origin of jabberwocky¹

Coined in 1871 by Lewis Carroll ( def ) in “Jabberwocky,” poem in Through the Looking Glass; nonsensical formation perhaps inspired by jabber ( def ); claimed around 1883 by Carroll to mean “the result of much excited and voluble discussion” and derive from jabber + Old English wocer, wocor “fruit, offspring,” also “increase, usury”

Word History and Origins

Origin of jabberwocky¹

C19: coined by Lewis Carroll as the title of a poem in Through the Looking Glass (1871)

Example Sentences

What were these jabberwocky words arranged in this order doing here?

From New York Times

Her intolerance for political jabberwocky and inflated ego was equaled by her seemingly boundless personal generosity, which often led her to help strangers in need.

From Washington Post

Only 53 percent of Republican and Democratic voters combined oppose declaring Jesus jabberwocky our national faith.

From Salon

Republicans’ verbal gyrations over the Iraq War should not be dismissed as the usual rhetorical jabberwocky of an election season.

From Salon