Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class IV. Words Relating to the Intellectual Faculties
Division (II) Communication of Ideas
Section I. Nature of Ideas Communicated

517. [Absence of Meaning.] Unmeaningness.

   NOUN:UNMEANINGNESS &c. adj.; scrabble, scribble, scrawl, pot-hooks.
  empty sound, dead letter, vox et præterea nihil [L.]; “a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” [Macbeth]; “weasel words” [Roosevelt]; “sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal” [Bible].
  NONSENSE, jargon, gibberish, jabber, mere words, hocus-pocus, fustian, rant, bombast, balderdash, palaver, patter [cant or colloq.], flummery, verbiage, babble, bavardage [F.], baragouin [F.], platitude, niaiserie [F.]; inanity; flap-doodle [colloq.]; rigmarole, rodomontade; truism; nugæ canoræ [L.]; twaddle, twattle, fudge, trash; poppy-cock [U. S.]; stuff, – and nonsense; bosh [colloq.], rubbish, moonshine, wish-wash [slang], fiddle-faddle [colloq.]; absurdity [See Absurdity]; imbecility, folly [See Imbecility. Folly]; unintelligibleness, ambiguity, vagueness (unintelligibility) [See Unintelligibility].
   VERB:MEAN NOTHING; be unmeaning &c. adj.; twaddle, quibble, jabber, rant, rodomontade, palaver, babble, fiddle-faddle [colloq.].
  SCRIBBLE, scrawl, scrabble, scratch.
   ADJECTIVE:UNMEANING; meaningless, senseless; nonsensical [See Absurdity]; void of sense [See Meaning].
  inexpressive, unexpressive; vacant; not significant [See Meaning]; insignificant.
  TRASHY, washy, wishy-washy [colloq.], inane, wash [obs.], rubbishy, vague, trumpery, trivial, fiddle-faddle [colloq.], twaddling, quibbling.
  UNMEANT, not expressed; tacit (latent) [See Latency].
  INEXPRESSIBLE, undefinable, ineffable, unutterable, incommunicable.
   INTERJECTION:FUDGE! stuff! stuff and nonsense! bosh! fiddle-faddle! [colloq.]; poppy-cock! oh! la-la! [F.]; rubbish! fiddledee-dee! [See Absurdity].    QUOTATIONS:

1. To varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.—Churchill
2. The spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.—II Henry IV