nonsensical

See also: non-sensical

English

Alternative forms

• nonsensic (very rare)
• non-sensical

Etymology

From nonsense +‎ -ical.

Adjective

nonsensical (comparative more nonsensical, superlative most nonsensical)

1. Without sense; absurd.

   Synonyms: meaningless, unmeaning, absurd, foolish, irrational, preposterous

   Antonyms: comprehensible, commonsensical, 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

• The form non-sensical is much less common while nonsensic is extremely rare.
• Webster 1828 defined this as "Unmeaning; absurd; foolish." Webster 1913 defined this as "Without sense; unmeaning; absurd; foolish; irrational; preposterous."

Related terms

• nonsense
• nonsensible
• senseless

Collocations

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

without sense

• Armenian: անիմաստ (hy) (animast)
• Bikol Central: daing hawong
• Bulgarian: глупав (bg) (glupav), безсмислен (bg) (bezsmislen)
• Czech: nesmyslný (cs) m
• Danish: absurd
• Dutch: betekenisloos (nl), zinloos (nl), onzinnig (nl)
• Esperanto: sensenca
• Finnish: järjetön (fi), tolkuton (fi), mieletön (fi), järjenvastainen (fi)
• French: absurde (fr), sans queue ni tête (fr)
• Galician: absurdo (gl) m
• German: sinnwidrig, unsinnig (de), widersinnig (de)
• Hebrew: שטותי (shtutí), אבסורדי (absúrdi)
• Hungarian: képtelen (hu), abszurd (hu), nonszensz (hu), értelmetlen (hu)
• Japanese: 意味不明な (imifumeina)
• Latin: nūgax
• Manx: meecheeallagh
• Maori: nenekara
• Plautdietsch: onsennich
• Polish: nonsensowny, bezsensowny (pl)
• Russian: бессмы́сленный (ru) (bessmýslennyj), неле́пый (ru) (nelépyj)
• Thai: ไร้สาระ (th) (rái-sǎa-rá)
• Turkish: saçma (tr), saçma sapan (tr), abes (tr), abuk sabuk (tr), abidik gubidik (tr), absürt (tr)

Further reading

• “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.