Word of the Day

: February 1, 2022

garble

verb GAR-bul

What It Means

Garble means "to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning."

// The text on the television was garbled, but viewers could still decipher what was being said.

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garble in Context

"We aren't very good as human beings at having good conversations in the first place, and then everything switched to Zoom, where body language often gets lost and signals get garbled." — Andreas Kluth, quoted in The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington), 25 Dec. 2021

Did You Know?

Garble comes from Anglo-French garbeler, meaning "to remove impurities or refuse from (spices)." The English word refers to distortion of speech or writing that makes its meaning unclear (impure).