jabberwocky

jabberwocky Audio pronunciation

 
noun | JAB-er-wah-kee
 
What It Means
 
Jabberwocky refers to meaningless speech or writing.
 
// When the character gets angry or flustered, she talks in a sort of agitated jabberwocky that is really quite comical.

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jabberwocky
noun
jab·;ber·;wocky ;ja-b;r-;w;-k;
Synonyms of jabberwocky
: meaningless speech or writing


Did you know?
In his poem titled "Jabberwocky," from Through the Looking-Glass, Lewis Carroll warned readers about a frightful beast:

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!

This nonsensical poem caught the public's fancy upon its publication in late 1871, and by the turn of the 20th century jabberwocky was being used as a generic term for meaningless speech or writing. The word bandersnatch has also seen some use as a general noun, with the meaning "a wildly grotesque or bizarre individual." It's a much rarer word than jabberwocky, though, and is entered only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Synonyms
abracadabra
babble
blabber
burble
double Dutch
double-talk
drivel
gabble
gibber
gibberish
jabber
mumbo jumbo
nonsense
prattle
slobber
Examples of jabberwocky in a Sentence
when he gets angry, he talks in a sort of agitated jabberwocky that is really quite comical
Word History
Etymology
Jabberwocky, nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll

First Known Use
1902, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of jabberwocky was in 1902
See more words from the same year
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