See mumbo jumbo in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"4": "",
"5": "mask; masked dancer"
},
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"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably from Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”); or perhaps from /l/-vocalization in the words \"mumble\" and \"jumble\".",
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{
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{
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{
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{
"_dis": "73 16 11",
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{
"_dis": "73 13 15",
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{
"_dis": "78 10 12",
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{
"_dis": "77 12 10",
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{
"_dis": "77 12 10",
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],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155:",
"text": "So likewise a day comes when the Runic Thor, with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness; and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawpaw be utterly abolished.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
],
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"(historical) A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
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"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "60 30 9",
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],
"tags": [
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{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Religion",
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"parents": [
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"source": "w"
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"examples": [
{
"text": "Rev. Quack's healing services are little more than mumbo jumbo.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 91:",
"text": "\"And what have you got to say? Another lot of mumbo-jumbo like your learned associates over there?\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 179:",
"text": "What is going on in all this religious mumbo-jumbo that is so foreign to the positivism of contemporary scholarship is a reenactment of the history of the soul before the beginning of terrestrial evolution.",
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],
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{
"text": "Football lingo is mumbo jumbo to me.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89:",
"text": "He escaped from that experience confounded, horrified, and conscious of degradation. Those infernal bandogs of the law had treated him as a piece of insensate property to their drivelling mumbo-jumbo, as if mere contact with it had robbed him of all rights to the dignity and integrity of his own ego.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1985, Robert Hayden, “Frederick Douglass”, in Collected Poems:",
"text": "When it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole, / Reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more / Than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 February 3, Rowena Mason, “Boris Johnson hints at allowing GM food imports from US”, in The Guardian:",
"text": "He also said Britain would be “governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo” when looking at whether imported food was acceptable for consumption in the UK.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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],
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{
"word": "nonsense"
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"tags": [
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"countable",
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"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "摩包君婆"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "gebrabbel"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "gewauwel"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "nl",
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"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "hocus pocus"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
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},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "volapukaĵo"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hókuszpókusz"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsa"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablaty"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablatyolás"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsázás"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "reo kihi"
},
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"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "nb",
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"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "vrøvl"
},
{
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"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
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"feminine"
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},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
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"word": "белиберда"
},
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"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "tarabárščina",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "тараба́рщина"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "garabato"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "blaj"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "rappakalja"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "zırva"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 0 97",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"colloquial"
],
"word": "laga luga"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/mʌmbəʊˈdʒʌmbəʊ/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"ipa": "/ˌmʌmboʊˈdʒʌmboʊ/",
"tags": [
"General-American"
]
},
{
"audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mumbo jumbo.wav",
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},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌmbəʊ"
}
],
"word": "mumbo jumbo"
}
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"English multiword terms",
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"English uncountable nouns",
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"Rhymes:English/ʌmbəʊ",
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"Terms with Dutch translations",
"Terms with Esperanto translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Maori translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations"
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},
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"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably from Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”); or perhaps from /l/-vocalization in the words \"mumble\" and \"jumble\".",
"forms": [
{
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"tags": [
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],
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"pos": "noun",
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"ref": "1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Symbols”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 155:",
"text": "So likewise a day comes when the Runic Thor, with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness; and many an African Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawpaw be utterly abolished.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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"A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
],
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"(historical) A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
],
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]
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{
"text": "Rev. Quack's healing services are little more than mumbo jumbo.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 91:",
"text": "\"And what have you got to say? Another lot of mumbo-jumbo like your learned associates over there?\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 179:",
"text": "What is going on in all this religious mumbo-jumbo that is so foreign to the positivism of contemporary scholarship is a reenactment of the history of the soul before the beginning of terrestrial evolution.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
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],
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],
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],
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"(religion) Any object of superstition; religious words and/or actions which are seen as superstitious or fraudulent."
],
"tags": [
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],
"topics": [
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"religion"
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{
"text": "Football lingo is mumbo jumbo to me.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 89:",
"text": "He escaped from that experience confounded, horrified, and conscious of degradation. Those infernal bandogs of the law had treated him as a piece of insensate property to their drivelling mumbo-jumbo, as if mere contact with it had robbed him of all rights to the dignity and integrity of his own ego.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1985, Robert Hayden, “Frederick Douglass”, in Collected Poems:",
"text": "When it is truly instinct, brain matter, diastole, systole, / Reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more / Than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 February 3, Rowena Mason, “Boris Johnson hints at allowing GM food imports from US”, in The Guardian:",
"text": "He also said Britain would be “governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo” when looking at whether imported food was acceptable for consumption in the UK.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish."
],
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],
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],
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"(by extension) Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish."
],
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{
"word": "nonsense"
}
],
"tags": [
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"countable",
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],
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"tags": [
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]
},
{
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"tags": [
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]
},
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},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌmbəʊ"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "mumbo-jumbo"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "摩包君婆"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "gebrabbel"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "gewauwel"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "hocus pocus"
},
{
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "koeterwaals"
},
{
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "volapukaĵo"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hókuszpókusz"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsa"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablaty"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablatyolás"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsázás"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "reo kihi"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "vrøvl"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "vås"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "tøys"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "trele-morele"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "abrakadabra",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "абракадабра"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "beliberda",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "белиберда"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "tarabárščina",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "тараба́рщина"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "garabato"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "blaj"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "rappakalja"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "zırva"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"colloquial"
],
"word": "laga luga"
}
],
"word": "mumbo jumbo"
}
Download raw JSONL data for mumbo jumbo meaning in English (8.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (bcd5c38 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.