Definitions Related words Phrases Mentions Lyrics History Colors (New!)

Literary notes about Nonsensical (AI summary)

The term nonsensical in literature is often deployed as a pointed critique to label ideas, dialogue, or behaviors that defy logical expectations. Authors use it to underscore absurdity or irrationality; for instance, it dismisses the naive or ill-conceived notions of a character or society—one work even condemns “the nonsensical ideas of the newcomers” [1] while another critiques an argument as “fundamentally nonsensical[2]. At times, it appears in character descriptions, where vanity or misguided beliefs are rebuked as nonsensical, as seen when a protagonist is chided for harboring “nonsensical vanity” [3] or when a character’s musings are deemed little more than “nonsensical talk” [4]. Whether undermining philosophical assertions or mocking mundane irrelevancies, the adjective encapsulates a literary strategy for distinguishing between what is regarded as coherent and what falls into the realm of absurdity [5, 6].
  1. These are the nonsensical ideas of the newcomers.
    — from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
  2. The argument, it must be obvious, is fundamentally nonsensical.
    — from The Antichrist by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  3. I have no ground for the nonsensical vanity of fancying everybody who comes near me is in love with me.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  4. And with no one to speak to, of what I felt, no Jane to comfort me and say that I had not been so very weak and vain and nonsensical as I knew I had!
    — from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  5. You would endure these hardships rather than give up the nonsensical views which you entertain toward your—” “Please.
    — from Dawn O'Hara: The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber
  6. "Good gracious!" returned the surprised Guardian of the Gates; "what a nonsensical idea!
    — from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum

More usage examples

Also see: Google, News, Images, Wikipedia, Reddit, Scrabble


Home   Reverse Dictionary / Thesaurus   Datamuse   Word games   Spruce   Feedback   Dark mode   Random word   Help


Color thesaurus

Use OneLook to find colors for words and words for colors

See an example

Literary notes

Use OneLook to learn how words are used by great writers

See an example

Word games

Try our innovative vocabulary games

Play Now

Read the latest OneLook newsletter issue: Compound Your Joy