nonsense

Noun

nonsense (usually uncountable, plural nonsenses)

1. (usually) 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. (usually) An untrue statement.
   • You have seen it for yourselves in the play by Aristophanes, where Socrates goes whirling round, proclaiming that he is walking on air, and uttering a great deal of other nonsense about things of which I know nothing whatsoever.1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 21
   • While at the hospital, David kept screaming and yelling nonsense, stating Vladimir Putin bailed him out of jail and is a god.2022 April 13, “Man Gets Arrested Twice in One Day”, in Code Blue Cam

   Synonyms:

   falsehood, lie, untruth, absurdity, rubbish, tosh

3. (usually) That which is silly, illogical and lacks any meaning, reason or value; that which does not make sense.

   Synonyms:

   absurdity, silliness, contradiction, stupidity, unreasoning

4. (usually) Something foolish.
   • and central banks lend vast sums against marshmallow backed securities, or other nonsenses creative bankers dreamed up.2008 October 9, “Nick Leeson has some lessons for this collapse”, in Telegraph.co.uk
5. (usually) A type of poetry that contains strange or surreal ideas, as, for example, that written by Edward Lear.
6. (usually) A damaged DNA sequence whose products are not biologically active, that is, that does nothing.

Verb

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

1. To make nonsense of;
   • 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.a. 1909, Bernard Shaw, “The Red Robe”, in James Huneker, editor, Dramatic Opinions and Essays by G. Bernard Shaw, volume 2, page 73
2. To attempt to dismiss as nonsense; to ignore or belittle the significance of something; to render unimportant or puny.
   • "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."1997 June 3, “Rockies respond to whip”, in Denver Post
   • 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.2000, Leon Garfield, Jason Cockcroft, Jack Holborn, page 131

   Synonyms:

   belittle, dismiss, pooh-pooh, rubbish

3. (intransitive) To joke around, to waste time
   • When he meant "go and get one" he said to go and get one, with no nonsensing around about "liking" to get one.1963, C. F. Griffin, The Impermanence of Heroes, page 170

Adjective

nonsense (comparative more nonsense, superlative most nonsense)

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

Interjection

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