Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Unclear, wordy jargon.
Wiktionary
- n. informal Nonsense; meaningless or encrypted language.
- n. informal Something written in an overly complex, incoherent, or incomprehensible manner.
WordNet 3.0
- n. incomprehensible or pompous jargon of specialists
Etymologies
- Imitative of the gobbling of a turkey. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Congressman Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944). (wikipedia)”
“New Class gobbledygook, which is more prevalent than ever, is also more destructive than ever because the government itself is doing more than ever.”
The Wall Street Journal: What's Elevated, Health-Care Provider?
“Apparently, some issues with signal, lost data packets, modem configurations, IP accessibility and other gobbledygook are at fault.”
“And if, as I believe he does, Woods wonders why the academic discourse on literature is conducted in a language called gobbledygook, then the answer is surely perfectly clear.”
“CNN: A push to simplify credit card 'gobbledygook”
“And yet, the Plain English Campaign says on their webpage that they're "campaigning against gobbledygook"; what sort of non-English speaker would know what "gobbledygook" is?”
“I mean, that's what critics are saying; this is just basically kind of gobbledygook you're talking about.”
“One judge told the government its courtroom arguments were "gobbledygook" and invited its lawyer to return to his office and "have a big chuckle.”
“At another point in the hearing, Edwards told the FCC's lawyer that his arguments were "gobbledygook" and "nonsense.”
“As for Aciman's view of In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, while I take (and at the time took) the point about heavy-handed literalness, to describe it as "gobbledygook" simply betrays a failure to understand the English language.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gobbledygook’.
-
Talk Talk
Words for Talking
( open list, randomness )squawk, gab, chatter, chitchat, blab, prattle, blather, discuss, hector, plead, cajole, harangue and 200 more...
-
Silly-sounding words
Serious words that sound silly when you say them
philosophunculist, argy-bargy, Labradoodle, shittah, shittim, floccinaucinihili..., succedaneum, honorificabilitud..., fag-ma-fuff, buffarilla, yazzihamper, mammothrept and 140 more...
-
Nincompoopery
Words that clatter and tumble
nincompoop, pettyfoggery, gaberlunzie, cattywampus, weisenheimer, katzenjammer, hecklephone, loblolly, carriwitchet, flibbertyjibbet, hornswoggle, thimblerigger and 161 more...
-
Confusually
???????????????????
baffle, farrago, confound, befuddle, daze, disorient, discombobulate, stupefy, perplex, mystify, bewilder, boggle and 134 more...
-
A List Of The Cutest Words Ever Created!
HEE OK LETS DO IT! I'm v.v. excited! (with thanks to whichbe, Lampbane, bilby, effigy, frogapplause, and fredrx!)
piggy, toesy woesies, snurfle, wiggly, chomp, lewispoo, dobby, dunderhead, cupcake, mumbo jumbo, wigglebop, scuttle and 99 more...
-
awesome words
Words that mean cool things
helmer, gris, vamp, skuld, sapsuckers, couple, mushroom-headed, neologist, grayish-pink, slipstream, toad, bada-bing and 45 more...
-
disinformation
words meaning bad or not real data
foo, gobbledygook, spin, blacklist, corrupt, fraudulent, debauched, nefarious, untrustworthy, spam, deranged, mental and 22 more...
-
Trash Talk
Words that indicate meaningless, confusing or deceptive talk.
white noise, blarney, pidgin, jabber, bullshit, yadda yadda yadda, mishmash, farrago, gobbledygook, yammer, drivel, jargon and 18 more...
-
Nonsense
Synonyms of "nonsense"
tomfoolery, balderdash, poppycock, lalapalooza, hullabaloo, hodgepodge, gibberish, shenanigans, hootenanny, jabberwocky, gobbledygook, mummery and 21 more...
-
Funny words
Words that have funny sounds or mean funny things
moose, noob, olivary, lubes, sapsuckers, mushroom-headed, grayish-pink, spatula-shaped, comely, slipstream, toad, bulb and 25 more...
-
Nonsense
I've lost a word. Several months ago, I was reading a tart little essay online (the online counterpart of a British publication, but
*not* my beloved *LRB*, of that I'm pretty sure), and the ...twaddle, codswallop, bafflegab, gimcrackery, balderdash, poppycock, gibberish, tomfoolery, gobbledygook, buffoonery, hogwash, mumbo jumbo and 8 more...
-
Fun Words
Words that are fun to say....
gobbledygook, jings, crivens, hullabaloo, wheech, brouhaha, pizzazz, harum-scarum, namby-pamby, pussyfoot, frippery, pitter-patter and 333 more...
-
the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
-
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 3027 more... -
nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
-
bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1459 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gobbledygook.
sakhalinskii This is the internet. Aug 28, 2008
chained_bear The pattern at work, perhaps? Aug 27, 2008
sakhalinskii Oh dear, I have been caught out. Aug 27, 2008
pterodactyl Wait, what? Aug 25, 2008
sakhalinskii Colloquial name for American English. Aug 8, 2008