Noun

Singular nonsense

Plural nonsenses

nonsense (plural nonsenses)

1. Letters or words, in writing or speech, that have no meaning or seem to have no meaning.
2. An untrue statement.

   He says that I stole his computer, but that's just nonsense.

3. Something foolish.
   • 2008, "Nick Leeson has some lessons for this collapse", Telegraph.co.uk, Oct 9, 2008

     and central banks lend vast sums against marshmallow backed securities, or other nonsenses creative bankers dreamed up.

4. (literature) A type of poetry that contains strange or surreal ideas, as, for example, that written by Edward Lear.
5. (biology) A damaged DNA sequence whose products are not biologically active, that is, that does nothing.

Synonyms

See WikiSaurus:nonsense

• (something that lacks meaning or absurd statement):
  • (mostly colloquialisms or slang): balderdash, baloney, bull, bulldust, bunk, codswallop, drivel, gibberish, hogwash, hooey (US), horse hockey, malarkey, manure, poppycock, prattle, rhubarb (chiefly Brit.), rubbish, twaddle
  • (vulgar slang): bollocks (British), bullshit, crap, horseshit (US)

Derived terms

• nonsensical

• nonsensification

• nonsensify

Nonsense (pronounced \ˈnän-ˌsen(t)s, ˈnän(t)-sən(t)s\) is a verbal communication or written text which resembles a human language or other symbolic system, but in fact does not carry any identifiable meaning.

In philosophy, nonsense refers to a group of statements which cannot carry sense in the context of sense and reference. Logical truths such as "it's either raining or not raining" and mathematical propositions such as "1+1=2" are regarded as "nonsense".

"Nonsense, as opposed to senselessness, is encountered when a proposition is even more radically devoid of meaning, when it transcends the bounds of sense. Under the label of unsinnig can be found various propositions: "Socrates is identical", but also "1 is a number". While some nonsensical propositions are blatantly so, others seem to be meaningful — and only analysis carried out in accordance with the picture theory can expose their nonsensicality. Since only what is "in" the world can be described, anything that is "higher" is excluded, including the notion of limit and the limit points themselves. Traditional metaphysics, and the propositions of ethics and aesthetics, which try to capture the world as a whole, are also excluded, as is the truth in solipsism, the very notion of a subject, for it is also not "in" the world but at its limit."

This page is for quotes on the subject of Nonsense

Nonsense is senseless or meaningless talk, language, or ideas; an untrue statement; or behaviour that is foolish or not straightforward. Nonsense, in one form or another, has often been practiced in literature to illustrate a point or highlight something that is ridiculous or contradictory; or, alternatively, can surface in other, more everyday contexts as something said indiscreetly or thoughtlessly that is liable to be misunderstood.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
• 2 Unsourced
• 3 Anonymous
• 4 External links

Sourced

Organized alphabetically by author.

• Nothing is capable to being well set to music that is not nonsense.
  • Joseph Addison, The Spectator, No. 18, 21st March 1711

• Undergraduates owe their happiness chiefly to the consciousness that they are no longer at school. The nonsense which was knocked out of them at school is all put gently back at Oxford or Cambridge.
  • Max Beerbohm, Going Back to School

• Nonsense, n. The objections that are urged against this excellent dictionary.
  • Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

• To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life.
  • Gelett Burgess (1866–1951), U.S. humorist and illustrator. The Romance of the Commonplace, ‘The Sense of Humour’, (1916).

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Sat Apr 18 09:52:49 2009