Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Nonsensical |
NonsensicalAdjective1. Completely devoid of wisdom or good sense; "the absurd excuse that the dog ate his homework"; "ask a nonsensical question and get a nonsensical answer"; "a contribution so small as to be laughable"; "it is ludicrous to call a cottage a mansion"; "a preposterous attempt to turn back the pages of history"; "her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous". 2. Having no intelligible meaning; "nonsense syllables"; "a nonsensical jumble of words". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "nonsensical" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Synonyms: NonsensicalSynonyms: absurd (adj), derisory (adj), laughable (adj), ludicrous (adj), nonsense(a) (adj), preposterous (adj), ridiculous (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Absurdity | Adjective: absurd, nonsensical, preposterous, egregious, senseless, inconsistent, ridiculous, extravagant, quibbling; self-annulling, self-contradictory; macaronic, punning. |
Imbecility Folly | Foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept; maudlin. |
Reasoning, | Irrational; nonsensical; (absurd). |
Unmeaningness | Adjective: unmeaning; meaningless, senseless; nonsensical; void of sense. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Nonsensical |
| English words defined with "nonsensical": absurd, Amphigoric, amphigory, applesauce ♦ codswallop ♦ derisory ♦ Fee-faw-fum, folderol ♦ jabberwocky ♦ laughable, ludicrous ♦ nonsense, nonsense verse ♦ preposterous ♦ ridiculous, rubbish ♦ tra-la, tra-la-la, trash, tripe, trumpery ♦ wish-wash. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "nonsensical": BANBURY STORY OF A COCK AND A BULL ♦ HOCUS POCUS ♦ RIGMAROLE ♦ veeblefetzer. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Goofy; guffaw; daffy; dippy; fool; foolish; idiotic; inane; irrational; nonsensical; jokey; joshing; kooky; laughable; loony; ludicrous; nutty; senseless; silly; stupid; tomfool; wacky;; absurd; batty; boffo; comic; comical; facetious; farcical; foolheade. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Nonsensical" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Nonsensical" is used about 94 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 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 94 | 33,845 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "nonsensical": nonsenseprenominal nonsensical. Additional references. | |
| 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 |
nonsensical | 4 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "nonsensical"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | absurd (absurd, absurdly, farcical, ludicrous, object, preposterous). (various references) | |
Arabic | هرائي, تافه (banal, commonplace, contemptible, crummy, fade, fiddling, flat, foolish, footling, fractional, frivolous, frothy, good for nothing, inane, inconsiderable, insignificant, junk, light, lilliputian, little, lowbrow, measly, minute, naught, negligible, niggling, nugatory, null, paltry, pedestrian, petty, piddling, pimping, piteous, pitiable, platitudinous, pointless, puny, ridiculous, run of the mill, silly, slight, slim, small time, smelly, stupid, trifle, trifling, trite, trivial, trumpery, two a penny, two bit, twopenny-halfpenny, unimportant, unsavory, unsavoury, unworthy, vain, valueless, vapid, vile, worthless), سفاسفي, أحمق (ass, barmy, berk, bonkers, brutish, childish, chuckle-head, chump, cuckoo, daft, empty, empty headed, fantastic, fat, fathead, fatuous, foolish, footless, goofy, goon, haywire, idiotic, impolitic, imprudent, indiscreet, inept, injudicious, insensate, jerk, lemon, mad, meaningless, nit, nitwit, numskull, ornery, oyster, perverse, pointless, prat, screwball, senseless, sod, stupid, unwise, vacant, wacky, weak, weak-minded, whacky, witless, wood-headed, zany). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | глупав (anserine, asinine, blackhearted, blithering, blockish, blunt, brainless, cockscomb, crass, daft, dense, dim witted, dopey, dopy, dozy, fat, fatuous, flat-footed, fool, foolish, footless, footling, goofy, hebetate, inane, inept, irrational, lame brain, lumpish, lunatic, mindless, mutton-headed, off one's nut, piffling, puddingy, puerile, purblind, sappy, senseless, silly, simple, slow witted, stockish, stupid, thick, thick-skulled, thick-witted, tomfool, trumpery, unintelligent, unwise, vacant, vacuous, whacked, witless, wooden-headed), нелеп (absurd, farcical, fatuous, inane, incongruous, inept, ludicrous, preposterous, ridiculous, screwy), безсмислен (absurd, aimless, futile, inane, insensate, inutile, meaningless, mindless, needless, nonsense, pointless, preposterous, purposeless, senseless, sorry, stupid, tomfool, unmeaning, vacuous, vain). (various references) | |
Czech | nesmyslný (absurd, mindful, pointless, preposterous, senseless, unreasonable). (various references) | |
Farsi | مزخرف (Absurd, Baloney, Ludicrous, Nonsense, Slag, Tawdry, Trashy), چرند (Baloney, Bilk, Corny, Crap, Hokum, Inane, Jive, Ludicrous, Rigmarole, Shenanigan, Silly, Stuff, Trashy, Unmeaning, Windy). (various references) | |
Finnish | järjetön (absurd, irrational, senseless, unreasonable). (various references) | |
French | qui n'a pas de sens, inepte, idiot, absurde. (various references) | |
German | unsinnig (absurd, foolish, insanely, nonsensically, self-defeating, unreasonable, unreasoning). (various references) | |
Greek | ανόητεσ παρατηρήσεισ, ανόητοσ (blithering, daft, fatuous, fool, foolish, goofy, idiot, inane, inept, insensate, insipient, knighterrantry, ninny, nitwit, sappy, senseless, silly, slap happy, unwise, witless), ανόητος (senseless, silly). (various references) | |
Hebrew | שטותי (foolish, inept), טפש (fool, goof, goofy, imbecile, silly, simpleton, stupid, unwise). (various references) | |
Hungarian | képtelen (absurd, impassible, impossible, ridiculous, unable), abszurd (absurd, cockeyed, fantastic, farcical, preposterous). (various references) | |
Italian | privo di senso (senseless), assurdo (absurd, absurdity, nonsense, preposterous, ridiculous, senseless, ungodly). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 出鱈目 (haphazard, irresponsible utterance, nonsense, random, unsystematic). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | でたらめ (haphazard, irresponsible utterance, nonsense, random, unsystematic). (various references) | |
Manx | sou-cheeayllagh (paradoxical; foolish), ommidjagh (absurd, brainless, crackpot, fatuous, foolish, idiotic, imbecile, madcap, scatter-brained, silly), meecheeayllagh (absurd, half-witted, idiot, imbecile, mad, silly, simple, unadvised). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | onsensicalnay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sem sentido (kill-time, meaningless, senseless, unmeaning), disparatado (absurd, blundering, crack-brained, crazy, foolish, hard-hearted, inept, insensate, irrational, kill-time, preposterous, screwy, senseless), absurdo (absurd, absurdity, bloodcurdling, foolish, ill-placed, impertinent, incongruous, inept, irrational, ludicrous, monstrous, nonsense, preposterous, ragtime, ridiculous, rubbish, unreason). (various references) | |
Romanian | nebunesc (crazy, desperate, foolish, insensate, lunatic, mad, madman's, reckless, wild), prostesc (anile, crazy, fatuous, flim-flam, foolish, idiotic, idiotical, idle, insensate, silly, stupid, witless), fãrã sens (frothy, inane, meaningless, piffling, pointless), de înţeles (explicable, natural), absurd (absurd, absurdity, absurdly, Dotty, fabulous, foolish, impossible, inept, irrational, ludicrous, mad, mindless, piffling, preposterous, recondite, ridiculous, silly, stupid, temerarious, unreasonable). (various references) | |
Russian | бессмысленный (blank, crack-brained, driftless, fatuous, headless, kill time, meaningless, mindless, nonsensial, pointless, senseless, unmeaning, wanton). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | besmislen (absurd, pointless, preposterous, unmeaning). (various references) | |
Spanish | tonto (ass, cabbagehead, calvish, clod-poll, crass, crazed, cretin, dimwit, dink, dispensary, dummy, dunderhead, fool, foolish, greaseproof paper, harebrained, idiot, idiotic, idleheaded, jenny ass, lemon, loose, numbhead, pinhead, silly, simple minded, soft, soft-headed, soppy, spoony, stupid, unwise, wall eyed, witless), sin sentido (dead, meaningless, pointless, senseless, unconscious, wanton), extravagante (aberrant, eccentric, extravagant, flamboyant, odd, outlandish, outre, strange, wanton, wild), disparatado (absurd, crazy, goofy, mad, piffling, unrealistic, wild, zany), absurdo (absurd, absurdity, absurdness, absurdum, blah, blether, farce, farcical, incongruous, irrational, preposterous, ridiculous, screwy, silly, wacky). (various references) | |
Swedish | meningslös (futile, insignificant, meaningless, mindless, purposeless, senseless, wanton). (various references) | |
Turkish | saçma sapan (foolishly, nonsense, rambling, stuff and nonsense), saçma (absurd, applesauce, balls, baloney, blind, boloney, bunk, bunkum, chimerical, claptrap, cockeyed, dissemination, eradiation, fantastic, fantastical, farcical, fatuous, fiddle, fiddle-de-dee, fiddlesticks, foolish, for the birds, froth, frothy, fudge, go on, hog-wash, hooey, impertinent, inane, incongruous, inept, irrational, jabber wocky, kibosh, laugh, malarkey, nonsense, outlandish, paltry, pointless, poppycock, raving, rhubarb, rot, scattering, senseless, shot, shucks, skittles, small shot, smearcase, sorry, spinach, stuff, tommyrot, tosh, trash, trifling, tripe, trivial, trumpery, unreasonable, wacky, waffle, whacky), anlamsız (absurd, barren, blank, dead pan, empty, expressionless, for the birds, frivolous, grotesque, inane, incoherent, inept, inexpressive, insane, insignificant, meaningless, nonsense, of no significance, pointless, purposeless, ridiculous, senseless, sodden, unmeaning, unreasonable, vacuous, vain, yeasty), abuk sabuk (farcical, incoherent, nonsense). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | нісенітний (absurd, rubbishy), абсурдний (absurd, grotesque, inept), безглуздий (absurd, addle-brained, addle-pated, barmy, blind, brainless, brute, crack-brained, crazy, foolish, idiotic, idiotical, impertinent, insane, ludicrous, meaningless, nail biting, pointless, preposterous, senseless, wanton, wet), дурний (anserine, asinine, balmy, bat-minded, bovine, cloddish, cracked, daft, dense, fatuous, featherbrained, fool, foolish, gawky, goofy, harebrained, idle-headed, mindless, mutton-headed, oafish, obtuse, opaque, owlish, pigheaded, sappy, sottish, spoony, stockish, stupid, thoughtless). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vô lý (impertinent, reasonless, unjustifiable), vô ý nghĩa, bậy bạ (random, rubbishy, wanton). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "nonsensical": nonsensically, nonsensicalness, nonsensicalnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Nonsensical" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: nonsenseical, nonsensicle. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "nonsensical" (pronounced nÄnse"nsikul) |
| 5 | -s i k u l | bicycle, classical, icicle, lexical, neoclassical, paradoxical, popsicle, semiclassical, tricycle. |
| 4 | -i k u l | acoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, categorical, cervical, chronological, comical, conical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electrochemical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, evangelical, fanatical, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, historical, hypercritical, hypocritical, hysterical, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, symmetrical, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, testicle, theatrical, theological, inimical, ironical, lackadaisical, liturgical, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, mathematical, mechanical, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, methodological, metrical, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, ontological, optical, ornithological, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, puritanical, rabbinical, radiological, rhetorical, sabbatical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, sociological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tropical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, uneconomical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological. |
| 3 | -k u l | aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-i-l-n-n-n-o-s-s" | |
-2 letters: ascension, cannelons, canniness, canonises, nonsaline, solanines. | |
-3 letters: alencons, alnicoes, anisoles, cannelon, cannolis, canoness, canonise, celosias, incloses, laciness, nonclass, sanicles, scansion, solanine, solanins, sonances. | |
-4 letters: acinose, alencon, alnicos, ancones, anisole, caisson, canines, cannels, cannoli, cannons, caseins, casinos, cassino, celosia, cession, cineols, conines, cosines, encinal, encinas, incases, inclose, inlaces, innless, insoles, lesions, lioness, nancies, nannies. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-i-l-n-n-n-o-s-s" | |
+2 letters: nonsensically. | |
+4 letters: nonsensicalness. | |
+5 letters: consanguineously, conventionalisms, conventionalists, inconsolableness. | |
| 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. Sounds 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
