nonsense - Ondict

nonsense
non‧sense S3 /ˈnɒnsəns $ ˈnɑːnsens/

noun [uncountable]

Word Family: adjective: sensible, insensible, senseless, sensitive ≠ insensitive, sensory, nonsensical, insensate; noun: sense ≠ nonsense, sensibility ≠ insensibility, sensitivity ≠ insensitivity, senselessness, sensitization, sensor; adverb: sensibly, senselessly, sensitively ≠ insensitively; verb: sense, sensitize

1. UNTRUE/STUPID ideas, opinions, statements etc that are not true or that seem very stupid
SYN rubbish British English:

‘I’m a prisoner in my own home.’ ‘Nonsense!’
absolute/utter/complete nonsense

‘Nobody cares about me.’ ‘That’s absolute nonsense, Mary!’
nonsense about

all this nonsense about health foods

If you ask me, these modern teaching methods are a load of nonsense (=a lot of nonsense).

He was talking utter nonsense as usual.
be a nonsense British English:

The government’s housing policy is a nonsense.

By 1832 the idea had become an economic nonsense.
it is (a) nonsense to do something

It is nonsense to say that mistakes are never made.
2. ANNOYING BEHAVIOUR behaviour that is stupid and annoying:

You’re to stop that nonsense, do you hear me?
not stand/put up with/take any nonsense (=not accept such behaviour)

She won’t stand any nonsense from the kids in her class.
3. WITHOUT MEANING speech or writing that has no meaning or cannot be understood:

Computer programs look like complete nonsense to me.
4. make (a) nonsense of something British English to make an action, system, or plan useless or ineffective:

Having the army still in power makes a nonsense of last year’s elections.
5. nonsense poems/verse/rhymes poetry that is humorous because it does not have a sensible meaning

COLLOCATIONS

■ adjectives
   ▪ complete/total nonsense Most of what has been written on this subject is complete nonsense.
   ▪ utter/absolute nonsense (=complete nonsense) He said that the charges against him were absolute nonsense.
■ verbs
   ▪ talk nonsense That's not true - he's talking nonsense!
   ▪ believe this/that nonsense Don’t tell me you believe all this nonsense about ghosts!
■ phrases
   ▪ that's nonsense (=used to emphasize that something is not true) That’s nonsense. I never said that at all.
   ▪ a load of nonsense informal (=things that are completely untrue) What she told you was a load of nonsense. Mark doesn’t drink at all.
   ▪ a lot of nonsense (=things that are completely untrue) ‘Don’t fill her head with a lot of nonsense,’ said her mother.
   ▪ stuff and nonsense old-fashioned (=nonsense) When asked what he thought of astrology, he replied, 'Stuff and nonsense!'