nonsensical
See also: non-sensical
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- nonsensic (very rare)
- non-sensical
Etymology edit
Adjective edit
nonsensical (comparative more nonsensical, superlative most nonsensical)
- Without sense; absurd.
- Synonyms: meaningless, unmeaning, absurd, foolish, irrational, preposterous
- Antonyms: comprehensible, logical, rational, sensible, sensical
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Prudence in Politics”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 179:
- Well, her very foolish grandmother has mixed herself up in some nonsensical correspondence with the court of St. Germains; or, rather, has let herself be made a tool by Mr. Trevanion, who, I am happy to say, is not Ethel's husband; they arrested him just in time.
Usage notes edit
- The form non-sensical is much less common while nonsensic is extremely rare.[1]
- Webster 1828 defined this as "Unmeaning; absurd; foolish." Webster 1913 defined this as "Without sense; unmeaning; absurd; foolish; irrational; preposterous."
Related terms edit
Collocations edit
Nouns often used with "nonsensical"
words, things, idea, notion, results, question, language, way, talk, statement, situation, story, argument, reasons, stuff, books, jargon, theory, assumption, interpretation
Translations edit
without sense
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References edit
- ^ nonsensical,([non - sensical*100),(nonsensic*10000)] at Google Ngram Viewer
Further reading edit
- “nonsensical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “nonsensical”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “nonsensical”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “nonsensical” (US) / “nonsensical” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
- "nonsensical" in WordNet 3.1, Princeton University, 2011.