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gibberish

noun
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gib·​ber·​ish | \ ˈji-b(ə-)rish How to pronounce gibberish (audio) , ˈgi- How to pronounce gibberish (audio) \

Definition of gibberish

: unintelligible or meaningless language:
a : a technical or esoteric (see esoteric sense 1) language The doctors spoke to one another in their medical gibberish that I was unable to follow.
b : pretentious or needlessly obscure language The substance of the philosopher'swork is buried in polysyllabic gibberish.
Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about gibberish

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Examples of gibberish in a Sentence

She was talking gibberish in her sleep. was so excited he could only talk gibberish
Recent Examples on the Web This is the meteor strike, Little Richard’s national pop debut — brash and lascivious, opening with a salvo of gibberish that makes perfect sense. — Jon Pareles, New York Times, "Little Richard: An Ecstasy You Couldn’t Refuse," 10 May 2020 More than the gibberish-prone hype-beasts of Silicon Valley, Ramahi knows about real problems. — Richard Morgan, Fortune, "In Palestine, a digital desert starts to bloom," 7 Apr. 2020 Maybe that's because the chorus is melodic gibberish. — Glamour, "53 Best ’90s Songs That Are All That and a Bag of Chips," 31 Mar. 2020 Baby Yoda, by contrast, doesn’t seem to have advanced beyond cooing and baby gibberish. — Eric Spitznagel, Popular Mechanics, "An Alarmingly Deep Dive Into the Science of Baby Yoda," 2 Dec. 2019 The 24-year-old sat in his car until the place opened, then wandered around all day, alternating between gibberish and talk of suicide as co-workers tried to keep him away from customers. — Jayne O'donnell, USA TODAY, "Is marijuana linked to psychosis, schizophrenia? It's contentious but doctors, feds say yes," 15 Dec. 2019 Within the confines of a supposedly serious congressional hearing, there is no wholly effective way to counter the sort of slime and gibberish that Gaetz and Gohmert were promoting. — John Cassidy, The New Yorker, "The House Republicans’ Slimy Defense of Donald Trump," 13 Dec. 2019 That’s football gibberish to most, a technical explanation of what went wrong when the only thing people see is Jacobs breaking a tackle and getting to the second level of the defense on his way to another first down. — Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, "Matt Patricia keeps saying 'my bad' on Detroit Lions' defensive woes. So now what?," 5 Nov. 2019 Some, like Sharon Birzer, spoke gibberish or had violent seizures. — Ilana Yurkiewicz, Smithsonian, "The Possibilities and Risks of Genetically Altering Immune Cells to Fight Cancer," 26 Oct. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gibberish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of gibberish

circa 1554, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for gibberish

probably from gibber

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Time Traveler for gibberish

Time Traveler

The first known use of gibberish was circa 1554

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Statistics for gibberish

Last Updated

25 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Gibberish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gibberish. Accessed 5 Jul. 2020.

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More Definitions for gibberish

gibberish

noun
How to pronounce gibberish (audio) How to pronounce gibberish (audio)

English Language Learners Definition of gibberish

: foolish, confused, or meaningless words

See the full definition for gibberish in the English Language Learners Dictionary

gibberish

noun
gib·​ber·​ish | \ ˈji-bə-rish How to pronounce gibberish (audio) \

Kids Definition of gibberish

: confused meaningless talk

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More from Merriam-Webster on gibberish

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for gibberish

Spanish Central: Translation of gibberish

Nglish: Translation of gibberish for Spanish Speakers

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