nonsense

1. noun

1)

that's a lot of damn nonsense

Syn:

rubbish, gibberish, claptrap, balderdash, blarney; informal hogwash, baloney, rot, moonshine, garbage, jive, tripe, drivel, bilge, bull, guff, bunk, bosh, BS, eyewash, piffle, poppycock, phooey, hooey, malarkey, hokum, twaddle, gobbledygook, codswallop, flapdoodle, hot air; dated bunkum, tommyrot; vulgar slang bullshit, crap

Ant:

(good) sense

2)

she stands no nonsense

Syn:

mischief, naughtiness, bad behavior, misbehavior, misconduct, misdemeanor; pranks, tricks, clowning, buffoonery, funny business; informal tomfoolery, monkey business, shenanigans, hanky-panky

Ant:

good behavior

3)

they dismissed the concept as nonsense

Syn:

absurdity, folly, stupidity, ludicrousness, inanity, foolishness, idiocy, insanity, madness

Ant:

(good) sense, wisdom

2. exclamation

"Nonsense!" she retorted

Syn:

rubbish, balderdash; informal no way, get out of here, get real, phooey, puh-leeze, hooey, poppycock, come off it, like hell; dated pshaw

••

nonsense, bull, bunk, drivel, poppycock, twaddle

If you write or speak in an obscure, senseless, or unintelligible manner, you'll probably be accused of producing nonsense. It is the most general of these nouns and may refer to behavior as well as to what is said (the demonstrators were told in no uncertain terms to stop this nonsense or leave the room). Twaddle refers to silly, empty utterances from people who know nothing about a subject but who write or talk about it anyway (I was sick of her twaddle about the dangers of electromagnetic fields). Bunk (short for bunkum) applies to an utterance that strikes the popular fancy even though it is lacking in worth or substance (the speech, which received enthusiastic applause, was pure bunk). Poppycock applies to nonsense that is full of complex, confused, or clichéd ideas (the report was a strange combination of logical thinking and outright poppycock). Bull is a slang term for deceitful and often boastful writing or speech (he gave them a line of bull). Perhaps the most insulting of these terms is drivel, which implies a steady flow of inane, idle, or nonsensical speech or writing similar to what might be expected from a very young child or an idiot (his first novel was full of romantic drivel).