Standard Lemma guide

balderdash

noun · verb · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈbɔːldə.dæʃ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: B AO1 L D ER0 D AE2 SH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Senseless talk or writing; nonsense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bunk, drivel, folderol, piffle, poppycock, rubbish, twaddle, absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil, Bandini, baragouin, batcrap, batshit, bilgewater, blah, blather, blatherskite, bobbins, bollocks, bosh, BS, bull, bullcrap, bulldust, bull feathers, bullshit, bullspeak, bunkum, bushwah, clamjamfrey, claptrap, cobblers, codswallop, crap, crock, crock of shit, double Dutch, double talk, doublespeak, dribble, eyewash, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, flim-flam, flizz, flummery, foolishness, footle, framis, fuckery, fuckry, fudge, galimatias, Gallophone, garbage, garble, gash, gibber, gibberish, gobbledygook, gossip, Greek, guff, gup, hoax, hocus-pocus, hogwash, hokum, hooey, horse cock, horsefeathers, horse hockey, horse piss, horse puckey, horseshit, humbug, Irish bull, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, jibber-jabber, jimjam, jive, junk, lallation, macaroni, malarkey, manure, meaninglessness, moonshine, mumbo jumbo, nertz, nonsense, pie in the sky, pigswill, prattle, put-on, rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb, rigmarole, rot, ruse, santorum, shit, shite, skimble-skamble, squit, stuff, stuff and nonsense, tommy-rot, tosh, trittle trattle, tush, trash, tripe, wass, whiff-whaff, word salad

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A worthless mixture, especially of liquors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, uncountable

Examples

  • 1637, John Taylor, Drinke and Welcome, London: Anne Griffin, “Beere,” Indeede Beere, by a Mixture of Wine, it enjoyes approbation amongst some few (that hardly understand wherefore) but then it is no longer Beere, but hath lost both Name and Nature, and is called Balderdash (an Utopian denomination) ...
  • 1783, John O’Keeffe, The Agreeable Surprise, Newry: R. Stevenson, Act I, Scene 1, pp. 6-7, ... I took him to oblige a foolish old friend of mine, who intended him for Saint Omers; so I must keep him to draw good wine, and brew balderdash Latin.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: stuff, swill

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Obscene language or writing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fuck-ese, obscenity, ordure, ribaldry, smut

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To mix or adulterate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: abase, adulter, admix, sophisticate, adulterate, adulterize, alloy, balderdash, corrupt, bastardize, dash, dilute, embase, amalgamate, bemingle, blend, combine, commingle, intermingle, intermix, involve, mang, meddle, ming, mingle, mix, mix up

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

trivial nonsense

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fiddle-faddle, piffle

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nonsense, bunk, nonsensicality, meaninglessness, hokum

History

Etymology

Unknown, possibly from the early English drink of wine mixed with beer or water or other substances that was sold cheaply.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: глу́пости (glúposti) — nonsense
  • Bulgarian: безсми́слици (bezsmíslici) — nonsense
  • Chinese Mandarin: 胡說八道 /胡说八道 (húshuōbādào) — nonsense
  • Czech: cancy — nonsense
  • Dutch: gebazel — nonsense
  • Esperanto: galimatio — nonsense
  • Esperanto: volapukaĵo — nonsense
  • Finnish: soopa — nonsense
  • French: bêtises — nonsense
  • French: calembredaines — nonsense
  • French: carabistouilles — nonsense
  • German: Gefasel — nonsense
  • Japanese: たわごと (tawagoto) — nonsense
  • Korean: 농담 (nongdam) — nonsense
  • Plautdietsch: Domheit — nonsense
  • Polish: ambaje — nonsense
  • Portuguese: besteira — nonsense
  • Portuguese: baboseira — nonsense
  • Russian: чепуха́ (čepuxá) — nonsense
  • Russian: бессмы́слица (bessmýslica) — nonsense
  • Russian: вздор (vzdor) — nonsense
  • Russian: галиматья́ (galimatʹjá) — nonsense
  • Russian: белиберда́ (beliberdá) — nonsense
  • Ottoman Turkish: صاچمه (saçma) — nonsense