Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To mix in a confused way; throw together carelessly.
  • intransitive verb To muddle; confuse.
  • intransitive verb To be mixed in a confused way.
  • noun A confused or disordered mass.
  • noun A disordered state; a muddle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A confused mixture, mass, or collection; a state of disorder or confusion.
  • noun A thin crisp cake, composed of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, flavored with lemon-peel or sweet almonds.
  • To mix in a confused mass; put or throw together without order: often followed by together or up.
  • To stir up; arouse.
  • To meet or come together confusedly or promiscuously; be mixed up.
  • To act or work confusedly; stumble along; flounder.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A confused mixture; a mass or collection without order.
  • noun A small, thin, sugared cake, usually ring-shaped.
  • transitive verb To mix in a confused mass; to put or throw together without order; -- often followed by together or up.
  • intransitive verb To meet or unite in a confused way; to mix confusedly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To mix or confuse.
  • noun A mixture of unrelated things.
  • noun UK Items for a rummage sale.
  • noun archaic A small, thin, sugared cake, usually ring-shaped.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb assemble without order or sense
  • noun a confused multitude of things
  • noun a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas
  • verb be all mixed up or jumbled together
  • verb bring into random order
  • noun small flat ring-shaped cake or cookie

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

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Examples

  • I read things into the words, decoded them like a word jumble in the Sunday funnies.

    Vivian Rising Daniella Brodsky 2010

  • I climbed over them to sit and type on the bed, in jumble sale exile.

    It Gets Worse « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • On the surface it might appear to be any other word-jumble from the subset of Japanese gaming that only two small handfuls of obsessive sub-culture fans in the West can appreciate, but again, let me assure you this is different.

    Ten for 2010: the 10 most-anticipated games coming in the new year Boing Boing 2009

  • In the midst of this societal jumble is Albert Fish, serial killer and cannibal.

    GreenCine Daily: Interview. John Borowski. 2007

  • Miranda Goode have found that test subjects who are reminded of money prior to engaging in a word jumble descrambling exercise exhibit more self-sufficienct orientation compared to control subjects to whom neutral language is read prior to the exercise.

    The Brain, Money, and Law & Economics 2006

  • Miranda Goode have found that test subjects who are reminded of money prior to engaging in a word jumble descrambling exercise exhibit more self-sufficienct orientation compared to control subjects to whom neutral language is read prior to the exercise.

    Archive 2006-11-01 2006

  • They didn't know what to do with the word jumble and neither did 1.

    Cat & Mouse Patterson, James 1997

  • It's easy to foresee a scenario where paranoid Texas or USC supporters raise similar concerns if their team winds up in a late-season national title jumble that includes an SEC power.

    CNN.com 2009

  • The Perfect Place Contest requires players to earn the highest score on a skill-based, puzzle-based online game, similar to the word jumble games in the newspaper.

    Press Release 2008

  • Unlike other home-giveaways where contestants are required to write lengthy and subjective essays, The Perfect Place Contest requires players to earn the highest score on a skill-based, puzzle-based online game, similar to the word jumble games in the newspaper.

    Press Release 2008

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