Nonsense

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈnɒn.səns/

Definitions

1. Statements or ideas that lack meaning, logic, or sense and are considered foolish or absurd
2. Utterances or thoughts that are characterized by a complete lack of coherence and are often viewed as silly or irrational
3. Speech or ideas that are without sense, logic, or value and often seem silly

Etymology: The English "nonsense" is a plain compound: "non-" meaning "no, none, lack of," attached to "sense." The compound appears in English from around 1610, and it grew out of a much older tangle of words for "sense" that came into English through Old French and Latin. Its closest cousins show how natural the formation was: Dutch "onzin," German "Unsinn," and West Frisian "ûnsin" all build the same idea from the same pieces, as does the rare English "unsense." The more interesting thread is "sense" itself, which traces back through Old French "sens" and Latin "sensus," from "sentire," "to feel." A word for physical perception, then, sits at the root of a word now used for something that has no perception at all. "Nonsense" simply means the absence of that meaningful feeling or understanding, so a string of words that fails to make sense is literally a lack of sense.

Synonyms: absurdity, foolishness, rubbish, drivel, balderdash

Antonyms: sense, meaning, truth