non ‧ sense S3 /ˈnɒns ə ns $ ˈnɑːnsens/ BrE AmE 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!'