Standard Lemma guide

Jabberwocky

adj · name · noun · 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.

  • US: /ˈd͡ʒæbɚwɔki/
  • US: /ˈd͡ʒæbɚwɑki/
  • US: [ˈd͡ʒæbɚwɑki]
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

meaningless, worthless

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: no good, rubbishy, valueless, bastardly, blown, cacky, chaffy, cocking, crapalicious, cruddy, cullionly, draffish, draffy, dreckish, drecky, duffing, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, for the birds, fucking, garbagey, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, goodless, ineffectual, invaluable, jabberwocky, junky, mouldy, mucid, naughty, no-account, no good / no-good, nonvaluable, not worth a damn, not worth a dime, not worth a plug nickel, not worth a brass farthing, not worth a cent, not worth a cress, not worth a curse, not worth a Continental, not worth a farthing, not worth hell room, not worth a nickel, not worth a penny, not worth salt, not worth a whistle, nought, of no value, pissass, punk, putid, rubbishly, sixpenny, scabbed, screwy, scummy, shand, shit, shitey, shitstained, shitty-ass, sorry-ass, strawlike, suckworthy, tenth-rate, toshy, trinkety, triobolar, tripy, two-bit, unappreciated, unvaluable, vain, worthless, worth nothing, wutless

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

absurd, nonsense, nonsensical

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ludicrous, preposterous, ridiculous, absurd, Laputan, cockamamie, cockeyed, farcical, foolish, full of it, irrational, inconsistent, incongruous, jabberwocky, laughable, nonsensical, priceless, rich, skimble-skamble, unreasonable

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A nonsensical poem that appears in Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Invented or meaningless language; nonsense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: flapdoodle, jabber, mumbo jumbo, 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, bunk, bunkum, bushwah, clamjamfrey, claptrap, cobblers, codswallop, crap, crock, crock of shit, double Dutch, double talk, doublespeak, dribble, drivel, eyewash, fiddle-faddle, flim-flam, flizz, flummery, folderol, 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, jabberwocky, jargon, jibber-jabber, jimjam, jive, junk, lallation, macaroni, malarkey, manure, meaninglessness, moonshine, nertz, nonsense, pie in the sky, piffle, pigswill, poppycock, prattle, put-on, rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, ruse, santorum, shit, shite, skimble-skamble, squit, stuff, stuff and nonsense, tommy-rot, tosh, trittle trattle, tush, trash, tripe, twaddle, wass, whiff-whaff, word salad

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

nonsensical language (according to Lewis Carroll)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

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

History

Etymology

From Jabberwocky, a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll.

The name of a nonsense poem from the children's book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1872) by Lewis Carroll. Apparently based on the Jabberwock, the monster described therein, with the suffix -y in imitation of classical epics such as the Odyssey.

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: Wauwelwok — poem
  • Finnish: Pekoraali — poem
  • Finnish: Monkerias — poem
  • French: Jaseroque — poem
  • German: Jammerwoch — poem
  • Irish: An Gheabairleog — poem
  • Japanese: ジャバウォッキー — poem
  • Russian: Бармагло́т (Barmaglót) — poem
Real reading context

Jabberwocky in complete knowledge articles