garble
/ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/
garble verb: to pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.
Verb
garble (third-person singular simple present garbles, present participle garbling, simple past and past participle garbled)
- To pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.
- to garble a quotation
- to garble an account
- To make false by mutilation or addition.
- The editor garbled the story.
- To corrupt; to make unreadable, incomprehensible, or unintelligible.
- The announcement was completely garbled.
- Synonyms:
- scramble
- To sift or bolt; to separate the fine or valuable parts of (something) from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt.
- to garble spices
Noun
garble (countable and uncountable, plural garbles)
- Confused or unintelligible speech.
- The FCC says it decided to attempt standardization of VHF receivers after getting "thousands of complaints" from disgruntled boatmen who found their sets brought in mostly a lot of garble and static.1976, Boating (volume 40, numbers 1-2, page 152)
- Refuse; rubbish.
- Mutilation.
- Did not the lady smile upon the garble1808, Peter Pindar, letter to Joseph Nollekens
- Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings.
garble meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
garble in Tamil
- சிதைத்துக் கூறு, திர்த்துரை
garble in Urdu
- چھاننا, جھٹائی کرنا, صاف کرنا
garble in Bengali
- বিকৃত করা, তালগোল পাকানো, ভুলভাবে উপস্থাপন করা
garble in Malayalam
- ബോധപൂർവ്വമല്ലാതെ തെറ്റിക്കുക, വികലീകരിക്കുക, തിരിഞ്ഞുപെറുക്കുക, അരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- garble in Kannada
- ತಿರುಚು, ಗೊಂದಲಗೊಳಿಸು, ಗೋಜುಗೊಳಿಸು
Examples of garble in a sentence
- He's garbled the details, but the outline of the story is still pretty clear.
- In a word, as the whole relation is carefully garbled of all the levity and looseness that was in it, so it all applied, and with the utmost care, to virtuous and religious uses.1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, The Author's Preface:
Synonyms of garble
Forms of garble
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | garbles |
| present participle | garbling |
| past participle | garbled |
| past | garbled |
| Noun | |
| plural | garbles |
Origin of garble
From Middle English garbelen, from Anglo-Norman garbeler (“to sift”), from Medieval Latin garbellare (or a similar Italian word), from Arabic غَرْبَلَ (ḡarbala, “to sift”).
Words formed from garble
Words that rhyme with garble
Questions about garble
- What does garble mean?
- Garble means to pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.
- What is garble in Tamil?
- Garble in Tamil is சிதைத்துக் கூறு, திர்த்துரை. See Garble meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use garble in a sentence?
- He's garbled the details, but the outline of the story is still pretty clear.
- What part of speech is garble?
- Garble can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce garble?
- Garble is pronounced /ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/.
- What is the past tense of garble?
- The past tense of garble is garbled.
Words near garble in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: garble (page history and authors); garble (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); garble (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Garble (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); garble (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); garble (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-garble.wav.
Cite this entry: “garble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/garble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.