Standard Lemma guide

skimble-skamble

adj · noun · 2 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.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈskɪmb(ə)lˌskæmb(ə)l/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Confused, chaotic, disorderly, senseless.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

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

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Gibberish, mumbo-jumbo, nonsense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: 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, flapdoodle, 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, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, jibber-jabber, jimjam, jive, junk, lallation, macaroni, malarkey, manure, meaninglessness, moonshine, mumbo jumbo, 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

History

Etymology

Reduplication of scamble (“to move about pushing and jostling, struggle for place or possession, scramble; to mangle”). The term was popularized by William Shakespeare’s use of it in the play Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597): see the quotation.