gibberish
noun
gib·ber·ish
ˈji-brish 
ˈji-bə-rish
ˈji-bə-rish
ˈgi-
: unintelligible or meaningless language:
a
: a technical or esoteric (see esoteric sense 1) language
The doctors spoke to one another in their medical gibberish that I was unable to follow.
b
: pretentious or needlessly obscure language
The substance of the philosopher's work is buried in polysyllabic gibberish.
Synonyms
Examples of gibberish in a Sentence
She was talking gibberish in her sleep.
was so excited he could only talk gibberish
Recent Examples on the Web
In December 2023, Voyager 1 started speaking gibberish again.
—
Passant Rabie, Quartz, 8 Mar. 2024
Videos of the performance posted on social media appear to show King speaking gibberish and making up lyrics to Parton’s song.
—Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2024
To the layperson, an advertising ID is a string of gibberish, something like bdca712j-fb3c-33ad-2324-0794d394m912.
—Byron Tau, WIRED, 27 Feb. 2024
The bug then led to the odd gibberish being produced.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
Small groups would act out scenes using only gibberish — English wasn’t allowed — to see who could communicate with just body language and tone.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Feb. 2024
Data whisperer: Data can be a mountain of gibberish, but AI easily climbs it.
—Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
Hank Azaria's prime Frink gibberish outclasses the sleepy Lewis, although the segment never finds much interesting to do with the whole conceit.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 24 Nov. 2023
And yet there’s a lot of gibberish and right-wing gibberish on social media and places like Fox News, but ultimately people generally like how things are going.
—Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 1 Feb. 2024
Passant Rabie, Quartz, 8 Mar. 2024
Videos of the performance posted on social media appear to show King speaking gibberish and making up lyrics to Parton’s song.
—Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 25 Jan. 2024
To the layperson, an advertising ID is a string of gibberish, something like bdca712j-fb3c-33ad-2324-0794d394m912.
—Byron Tau, WIRED, 27 Feb. 2024
The bug then led to the odd gibberish being produced.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
Small groups would act out scenes using only gibberish — English wasn’t allowed — to see who could communicate with just body language and tone.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Feb. 2024
Data whisperer: Data can be a mountain of gibberish, but AI easily climbs it.
—Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 25 Jan. 2024
Hank Azaria's prime Frink gibberish outclasses the sleepy Lewis, although the segment never finds much interesting to do with the whole conceit.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 24 Nov. 2023
And yet there’s a lot of gibberish and right-wing gibberish on social media and places like Fox News, but ultimately people generally like how things are going.
—Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 1 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gibberish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
probably from gibber
First Known Use
circa 1554, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to gibberish
Dictionary Entries Near gibberish
Cite this Entry
“Gibberish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gibberish. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Kids Definition
gibberish
noun
gib·ber·ish
ˈjib-(ə-)rish
ˈgib-
ˈgib-
: confused meaningless talk
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