Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Mumble |
MumbleVerb1. Talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice. 2. Grind with the gums; chew without teeth and with great difficulty; of babies and old people. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "mumble" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1509. (references) |
Note: Mumble \Mum"ble\, transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Mumbled; Mumbling.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Mumble interj. 1. Said when the correct response is too complicated to enunciate, or the speaker has not thought it out. Often prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance to get into a long discussion. "Don't you think that we could improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and there are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use?" "Well, mumble ... I'll have to think about it." 2. [MIT] Expression of not-quite-articulated agreement, often used as an informal vote of consensus in a meeting: "So, shall we dike out the COBOL emulation?" "Mumble!" 3. Sometimes used as an expression of disagreement (distinguished from sense 2 by tone of voice and other cues). "I think we should buy a VAX." "Mumble!" Common variant: `mumble frotz' (see frotz; interestingly, one does not say `mumble frobnitz' even though `frotz' is short for `frobnitz'). 4. Yet another metasyntactic variable, like foo. 5. When used as a question ("Mumble?") means "I didn't understand you". 6. Sometimes used in `public' contexts on-line as a placefiller for things one is barred from giving details about. For example, a poster with pre-released hardware in his machine might say "Yup, my machine now has an extra 16M of memory, thanks to the card I'm testing for Mumbleco." 7. A conversational wild card used to designate something one doesn't want to bother spelling out, but which can be glarked from context. Compare blurgle. 8. [XEROX PARC] A colloquialism used to suggest that further discussion would be fruitless. Source: Jargon File. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: MumbleSynonyms: gum (v), maunder (v), mussitate (v), mutter (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Food | Verb: eat, feed, fare, devour, swallow, take; gulp, bolt, snap; fall to; despatch, dispatch; discuss; take down, get down, gulp down; lay in, tuck in; lick, pick, peck; gormandize; bite, champ, munch, cranch, craunch, crunch, chew, masticate, nibble, gnaw, mumble. |
Stammering | Mumble, mutter; maud, mauder; whisper; mince, lisp; jabber, gibber; sputter, splutter; muffle, mump; drawl, mouth; croak; speak thick, speak through the nose; snuffle, clip one's words; murder the language, murder the King's English, murder the Queen's English; mispronounce, missay. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Mumble |
| English words defined with "mumble": Drumble ♦ Mumbled, Mump. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "mumble": blurgle ♦ IGNORAMUS ♦ mumblage, mumble mode, munge. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "mumble": MUMPS. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | IGNORAMUS, n. A person unacquainted with certain kinds of knowledge familiar to yourself, and having certain other kinds that you know nothing about. Dumble was an ignoramus, Mumble was for learning famous. Mumble said one day to Dumble: "Ignorance should be more humble. Not a spark have you of knowledge That was got in any college." Dumble said to Mumble: "Truly You're self-satisfied unduly. Of things in college I'm denied A knowledge -- you of all beside." Borelli |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Mumble" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 46.03% of the time. "Mumble" is used about 63 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 46.03% | 29 | 64,444 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 39.68% | 25 | 69,787 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 14.29% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Total | 100.00% | 63 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "mumble": mumble mode ♦ mumble peg. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "mumble": mumble-mumble, mumble-the-peg. | |
Ending with "mumble": Clunk-click-mumble, mumble-mumble. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
mumble | 16 |
mac mumble | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "mumble"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | murmuritje (gabble, grumble, mumbling, murmur, muttering), murmurit (babble, burble, gabble, jabber, lip, mutter), flas mbyturazi. (various references) | |
Arabic | كلام غير واضح, غمغم (buzz, splutter, sputter, throat), تكلم بغير وضوح, تمتم (babble, gibber, mutter, stammer, stutter, stutter out), دندن (croon, drone, hum, sing, warble). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | мънкане (hum, mumbling, mutter), мънкам (ha, hum, mouth, mutter, say smth. under one's breath), дъвча с беззъба уста. (various references) | |
Chinese | 嘟" (mutter, Muttered, Muttering). (various references) | |
Czech | mumlat (hum, Maunder, murmur, mutter), huhòat (snuffle). (various references) | |
Farsi | من من کردن (Fumble, Mutter, Stammer), زیرلب سخن گفتن . (various references) | |
Finnish | mutista (mutter), mumista (mutter), supista (whisper), supina (whisper), sopertaa (falter, murmur, mutter, stammer), höpistä (prattle). (various references) | |
French | marmonner (mutter). (various references) | |
German | murmeln (babble, humming, murmur, murmuring, mutter, play marbles, to mumble, to murmur, to mutter). (various references) | |
Greek | μουρμουρίζω (burble, coo, croon, grouse, grunt, murmur, mutter). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מלמול (chattering, jabbering, mumbling, mutter, muttering), למלמל (babble, buzz, chatter, murmur, mutter, splutter, sputter, stammer), ל"מ"ם (murmur), רטן (grumble, murmur). (various references) | |
Hungarian | motyogás (mumbling, mutter, muttering). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mengomel (beef), komat-kamit (mumbling), gumam (suppress), dermimil (talk incessantly). (various references) | |
Italian | MUMBLE, masticare (chew, masticate, munch), farfugliare (babble, gabble, gibber, murmur, slur, splutter, sputter), borbottio (gabble, gibber, gibberish, mutter, rumble), borbottare (gabble, gibber, grouse, grumble, grunt, hum, jabber, moan, mutter). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | もし可能ならば (all the way, awfully, bashfully, be restless, completely, desperately, dishevelled, erection, farther, feel fuzzy, feel impatient, feel sad, fidget, flying squirrel, frightfully, gusto, hazy, hesitantly, if possible, impatient, inefficient, irritating, is something that, is that which, Japanese mafia, longer, misty, more, not quick enough, shaggy, slow, someone full of zest, swelling, tantalizing, tardy, the "tent" an erection makes against pants or bedsheets, to do something the speaker regrets, to squirm, tousled, unkempt, violently, women's work pants, worry about, Yakuza). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | もにゃもにゃ . (various references) | |
Korean | 믐b러 나무못 (mumble-the-peg). (various references) | |
Manx | mungley (mumbling), caigney (chew, file, gnaw, munch, rasp). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | umblemay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | resmungo (grouch, growl, mutter), resmungar (croak, groan, grouch, growl, grumble, murmur, mutter, nag, nag at, repine, scold), resmonear, balbuciar (babble, lip, lisp, mutter, stammer, stutter), balbuciação (babble, babbling, mumbling, mutter, muttering, prattle, stammer, stammering, stutter, stuttering). (various references) | |
Romanian | murmura (babble, Bicker, brawl, breathe, chatter, croak, growl, grumble, gurgle, kick, moan, murmur, mutter, Pearl, prattle, purl, ripple, round, rustle, sough, warble, whisper), mormãit (groan, growl, grumbling, grunt, mumbling, mutter, muttered, muttering, snarl), mormãi (drone, groan, grouse, grudge, grumble, grunt, mutter, snarl), molfãi, rosti nedesluşit, îndruga (guide). (various references) | |
Russian | шамкать, бормотать бормотание, бормотать (babble, burble, gabble, gibber, jabber, lip, murmur, mutter, muttered, speak in one's beard), бормотание (burble, gabble, haw, mumbling, mutter, muttering). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | mrmljati (mutter), mrmljanje (falderal, mumbling, mutter, muttering). (various references) | |
Spanish | mascullar. (various references) | |
Swedish | muttra (mutter, natter), mumla (hum, murmur, mutter). (various references) | |
Thai | พู"พึมพำ, คำพู"อู้อี้. (various references) | |
Turkish | mırıltı (grumbling, hum, murmur, mutter), mırıldamak (burble, grumble, mutter, pur, purr), gevelemek (hum and haw, stutter, waffle), geveleme. (various references) | |
Turkmen | sarnamak (mutter), samramak (mutter). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | шамкати, бурмотіння (babble, jabber, mumbling), бурмотати (gobble). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tiếng nói lầm bầm. (various references) | |
Welsh | myngial (mutter), mwmian (hum). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "mumble": mumbled, mumbler, mumblers, mumbles. (additional references) | |
| |
"Mumble" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cumble, dumble, Mambila, mauble, mumbler, munble, numble, umble. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "mumble" (pronounced mu"mbul) |
| 5 | -u" m b u l | Bumble, crumble, fumble, grumble, humble, stumble, jumble, rumble, tumble, umbel. |
| 4 | -m b u l | amble, assemble, bramble, cymbal, disassemble, dissemble, ensemble, gamble, symbol, nimble, preamble, ramble, reassemble, resemble, scramble, shamble, thimble, tremble, unscramble, wamble. |
| 3 | -b u l | incurable, indefatigable, indefensible, indefinable, indelible, indescribable, indestructible, indispensable, indisputable, indistinguishable, indivisible, indomitable, inedible, ineffable, ineligible, inequitable, inescapable, inevitable, inexcusable, inexhaustible, inexorable, inexplicable, infallible, infeasible, inflammable, inflatable, acceptable, accessible, able, abominable, accountable, achievable, actionable, adaptable, addressable, adjustable, admirable, admissible, adoptable, adorable, advisable, affable, affordable, agreeable, allowable, amenable, amendable, amiable, amicable, analyzable, answerable, appealable, applicable, appreciable, approachable, approvable, arable, arguable, attainable, attributable, audible, available, avoidable, babble, Babel, bankable, bauble, bearable, believable, bible, billable, biodegradable, breakable, bubble, buildable, burnable, cable, callable, cannibal, capable, changeable, chargeable, charitable, classifiable, cobble, coble, collapsible, collectible, Combinable, comfortable, commendable, communicable, comparable, compatible, compensable, comprehensible, conceivable, confirmable, considerable, constable, consumable, contemptible, contestable, controllable, convertible, copyrightable, corbel, countable, credible, creditable, crucible, culpable, curable, dabble, debatable, deductible, defensible, definable, degradable, delectable, deliverable, demonstrable, dependable, deplorable, deployable, depreciable, describable, desirable, despicable, detachable, detectable, determinable, developable, Dibble, digestible, disable, disagreeable, discernible, discountable, discoverable, dishonorable, dispensable, disposable, disreputable, distinguishable, divisible, doable, double, Drabble, dribble, drinkable, drivable, durable, eatable, edible, electable, eligible, Embraceable, employable, enable, enfeeble, enforceable, enjoyable, ennoble, enviable, equable, equitable, erasable, erodible, estimable, exchangeable, excitable, excludable, excusable, execrable, exercisable, expandable, expendable, explainable, exportable, extendable, extendible, fable, fallible, fashionable, fathomable, favorable, feasible, feeble, fissionable, fixable, flammable, flexible, foible, forcible, foreseeable, forfeitable, forgettable, forgivable, formidable, fungible, fusible, gable, Garble, global, gobble, Gribble, gullible, habitable, hardscrabble, harvestable, herbal, heritable, hobble, hon, honorable, horrible, hospitable, identifiable, ignoble, illegible, imaginable, imitable, immeasurable, immiscible, immobile, immovable, immutable, impassable, impeachable, impeccable, impenetrable, imperceptible, impermissible, implacable, implantable, implausible, imponderable, impossible, impracticable, impregnable, impressionable, improbable, inaccessible, inadmissible, inadvisable, inalienable, inapplicable, inaudible, incalculable, incapable, incomparable, incompatible, incomprehensible, incompressible, inconceivable, incontrovertible, incorrigible, incredible, soluble, solvable, spendable, squabble, Stabile, stable, stubble, submersible, suggestible, suitable, supportable, survivable, susceptible, sustainable, syllable, table, talkable, tangible, taxable, teachable, tenable, terrible, inflexible, inheritable, inhospitable, inimitable, injectable, innumerable, inoperable, insatiable, inscrutable, inseparable, insoluble, insufferable, insupportable, insurmountable, intangible, intelligible, interchangeable, interminable, interruptible, intertribal, intolerable, intractable, invaluable, investable, invincible, inviolable, invisible, invulnerable, irascible, irreconcilable, irrefutable, irremediable, irreparable, irreplaceable, irrepressible, irresistible, irresponsible, irreversible, irrevocable, irritable, issuable, justifiable, kibble, knowledgeable, label, lamentable, laudable, laughable, leasable, legible, liable, libel, likable, likeable, livable, lovable, malleable, manageable, mandible, maneuverable, marble, marketable, measurable, memorable, microwavable, miscible, miserable, mislabel, mobile, moldable, movable, navigable, negligible, negotiable, nibble, noble, noncallable, nonconvertible, nondeductible, nondurable, nonrefundable, nonrenewable, nontaxable, nontransferable, nonverbal, notable, noticeable, objectionable, observable, obtainable, operable, ostensible, palatable, palpable, parable, passable, patentable, payable, peaceable, pebble, perceptible, perishable, permeable, permissible, personable, persuadable, pitiable, plausible, pleasurable, pliable, portable, possible, potable, practicable, predictable, preferable, presentable, preventable, printable, probable, profitable, programmable, prosecutable, provable, psychobabble, punishable, questionable, quibble, quotable, rabble, reachable, readable, realizable, reasonable, rebel, receivable, rechargeable, recognizable, recordable, recoverable, recyclable, redeemable, redouble, redoubtable, reducible, refundable, regrettable, relabel, reliable, remarkable, removable, renewable, rentable, repairable, repayable, repeatable, replaceable, reportable, reprehensible, reputable, resealable, resettable, respectable, responsible, retractable, returnable, reusable, reversible, revocable, ridable, Roble, rouble, roundtable, rubble, Ruble, sable, salable, saleable, salvageable, Scrabble, scribble, seasonable, sensible, serviceable, Sibyl, sizable, sizeable, sociable, timetable, tolerable, traceable, tractable, tradable, tradeable, trainable, transferable, transferrable, transmittable, transportable, treatable, treble, tribal, trouble, tubal, tunable, turntable, typeable, unable, unacceptable, unaccountable, unaffordable, unalienable, unalterable, unanswerable, unassailable, unattainable, unavailable, unavoidable, unbearable, unbeatable, unbelievable, unbuildable, uncollectible, uncomfortable, unconscionable, uncontrollable, undeniable, understandable, undesirable, undetectable, unelectable, unemployable, unenforceable, unenviable, unexplainable, unfashionable, unfathomable, unfavorable, unfeasible, unflappable, unforeseeable, unforgettable, unforgivable, ungovernable, unimaginable, unimpeachable, uninhabitable, uninsurable, unintelligible, unjustifiable, unknowable, unlivable, unmanageable, unmentionable, unmistakable, unobtainable, unpalatable, unpredictable, unprintable, unprofitable, unquestionable, unreachable, unreadable, unreasonable, unrecognizable, unreliable, unremarkable, unsalable, unserviceable, unshakable, unsinkable, unsolvable, unspeakable, unstable, unstoppable, unsuitable, unsupportable, unsustainable, untenable, unthinkable, untouchable, untraceable, unusable, unverifiable, unwinnable, unworkable, usable, valuable, variable, vegetable, venerable, verbal, verifiable, veritable, viable, visible, voluble, vulnerable, washable, wearable, winnable, wobble, workable. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-l-m-m-u" | |
-1 letter: blume, umbel. | |
-2 letters: blue, lube, mule. | |
-3 letters: bel, bum, elm, emu, leu, lum, mel, mem, mum, umm. | |
-4 letters: be, el, em, me, mm, mu, um. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-l-m-m-u" | |
+1 letter: mumbled, mumbler, mumbles. | |
+2 letters: hummable, mumblers, summable. | |
+3 letters: immutable, lumberman, lumbermen. | |
+4 letters: commutable, molybdenum, stumblebum, summonable. | |
+5 letters: molybdenums, multimember, stumblebums, unmemorable, unmemorably. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
