garble

noun

Confused or unintelligible speech.

(obsolete) Refuse; rubbish.

(obsolete) Mutilation.

(obsolete) Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings.

verb

To corrupt; to make unreadable, incomprehensible, or unintelligible.

To pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.

To make false by mutilation or addition. [from 17th c.]

(obsolete) To sift or bolt; to separate the fine or valuable parts of (something) from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt. [14th–19th c.]

Roots

gharbalagarble- · Arabic · to sift, select

Synonyms for garble

distortv falsifyv gibberishn gobbledygookn muddlen misrepresentv contortv confusev warpn misconstruev misinterpretv mutilatev babblen

Synonyms & related words for garble

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of garble — including distort, falsify, gibberish, gobbledygook, muddle, misrepresent. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to garble

Explore words related to garble — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include garbler, galimatias, mangles, unintelligible, jumbled, indecipherably, indecipherable, undecipherable. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for garble

Common synonyms for garble include distort, falsify, gibberish, gobbledygook, muddle, misrepresent, contort, confuse — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does garble come from?

The word garble breaks down into one root of Arabic origin: the root garble, from Arabic gharbala (“to sift, select”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.