nonsense

• nonsence (archaic)
• non-sense

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”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑn.sɛns/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒn.səns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: non‧sense
• Rhymes: -ɒnsɛns, -ɒnsəns

nonsense (usually uncountable, plural nonsenses)

1. Letters or words, in writing or speech, that have no meaning or pattern or seem to have no meaning.

   After my father had a stroke, every time he tried to talk, it sounded like nonsense.

2. An untrue statement.
   • 2022 April 13, “Man Gets Arrested Twice in One Day”, in Code Blue Cam:

     While at the hospital, David kept screaming and yelling nonsense, stating Vladimir Putin bailed him out of jail and is a god.

3. That which is silly, illogical and lacks any meaning, reason or value; that which does not make sense.
4. Something foolish.
   • 2008 October 9, “Nick Leeson has some lessons for this collapse”, in Telegraph.co.uk:

     and central banks lend vast sums against marshmallow backed securities, or other nonsenses creative bankers dreamed up.

5. (literature) A type of poetry that contains strange or surreal ideas, as, for example, that written by Edward Lear.
6. (biology) A damaged DNA sequence whose products are not biologically active, that is, that does nothing.

• See Thesaurus:nonsense
• (untrue statement): falsehood, lie, untruth, absurdity, rubbish, tosh
• (that which is silly, illogical): absurdity, silliness, contradiction, stupidity, unreasoning

nonsense (third-person singular simple present nonsenses, present participle nonsensing, simple past and past participle nonsensed)

1. To make nonsense of;
   • a. 1909, Bernard Shaw, “The Red Robe”, in James Huneker, editor, Dramatic Opinions and Essays by G. Bernard Shaw, volume 2, page 73:

     At the Haymarket all this is nonsensed by an endeavor to steer between Mr. Stanley Weyman's rights as author of the story and the prescriptive right of the leading actor to fight popularly and heroically against heavy odds.

2. To attempt to dismiss as nonsense; to ignore or belittle the significance of something; to render unimportant or puny.

   Synonyms: belittle, dismiss, pooh-pooh, rubbish

   • 1997 June 3, “Rockies respond to whip”, in Denver Post:

     "They haven't nonsensed these workouts. They've taken them and used them very well. I didn't know how they'd respond, but they've responded."

   • 2000, Leon Garfield, Jason Cockcroft, Jack Holborn, page 131:

     Very commanding: very much 'end of this nonsensing'. Mister Fared spread his hands and shook his thin head imperceptibly, as if to say he understood.

   • 2006 March 17, “Sierra Leone: Petroleum Unit Calls for Auditing”, in AllAfrica.com:

     He further nonsensed press suggestions that the Petroleum Unit was set up to assist in the administration of sporting activities.

3. (intransitive) To joke around, to waste time
   • 1963, C. F. Griffin, The Impermanence of Heroes, page 170:

     When he meant "go and get one" he said to go and get one, with no nonsensing around about "liking" to get one.

nonsense (comparative more nonsense, superlative most nonsense)

1. Nonsensical.
2. (biochemistry) Resulting from the substitution of a nucleotide in a sense codon, causing it to become a stop codon (not coding for an amino-acid).

nonsense

1. An emphatic rejection of something one has just heard and does not believe or agree with.
   • 2023 January 11, Philip Haigh, “Comment: The worst chaos for 40 years”, in RAIL, number 974, page 4:

     The operators present this as a passenger benefit by claiming it provides early notice. Nonsense! This just means that passengers can't find any information about the train they thought they were catching. It simply disappears.

• missense
• non-sense

• “nonsense”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “nonsense”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “nonsense”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “nonsense” (US) / “nonsense” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.

From English nonsense.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnonsens/, [ˈno̞ns̠e̞ns̠]

nonsense

1. nonsense (type of poetry)

• “nonsense”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

From English nonsense.

• IPA^(key): /nɒnsɛns/

nonsense

1. nonsense

• nonsens