nonsinse

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

   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.

See all 12 meanings of nonsense