See mumbo jumbo in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for mumbo jumbo meaning in English (7.2kB)
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "mnk",
"3": "maamajomboo",
"4": "",
"5": "mask; masked dancer"
},
"expansion": "Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably from Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”); or perhaps from /l/-vocalization in the words \"mumble\" and \"jumble\".",
"forms": [
{
"form": "mumbo jumbos",
"tags": [
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]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
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"expansion": "mumbo jumbo (countable and uncountable, plural mumbo jumbos)",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
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{
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{
"_dis": "67 16 18",
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"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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{
"_dis1": "57 34 9",
"word": "mumbo-jumbo"
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{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Religion",
"orig": "en:Religion",
"parents": [
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"source": "w"
}
],
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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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any object of superstition; religious words and/or actions which are seen as superstitious or fraudulent."
],
"id": "en-mumbo_jumbo-en-noun-YZLtSksk",
"links": [
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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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},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Football lingo is mumbo jumbo to me.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
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"id": "en-mumbo_jumbo-en-noun-ZXALwJj1",
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"(by extension) Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "nonsense"
}
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"tags": [
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"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "摩包君婆"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "gebrabbel"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "gewauwel"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
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"word": "hocus pocus"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nl",
"lang": "Dutch",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "koeterwaals"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "eo",
"lang": "Esperanto",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "volapukaĵo"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hókuszpókusz"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsa"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablaty"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "hablatyolás"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "halandzsázás"
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{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "reo kihi"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "vrøvl"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "vås"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "tøys"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"neuter",
"plural"
],
"word": "trele-morele"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "abrakadabra",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "абракадабра"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "beliberda",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "белиберда"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "tarabárščina",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "тараба́рщина"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "garabato"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "blaj"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "rappakalja"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"word": "zırva"
},
{
"_dis1": "2 1 97",
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "meaningless speech",
"tags": [
"colloquial"
],
"word": "laga luga"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/mʌmbəʊˈdʒʌmbəʊ/"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ʌmbəʊ"
}
],
"word": "mumbo jumbo"
}
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"English terms borrowed from Mandinka",
"English terms derived from Mandinka",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
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"Rhymes:English/ʌmbəʊ",
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"4": "",
"5": "mask; masked dancer"
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"expansion": "Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”)",
"name": "bor"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Probably from Mandinka maamajomboo (“mask; masked dancer”); or perhaps from /l/-vocalization in the words \"mumble\" and \"jumble\".",
"forms": [
{
"form": "mumbo jumbos",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
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"args": {
"1": "~",
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"expansion": "mumbo jumbo (countable and uncountable, plural mumbo jumbos)",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
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{
"categories": [
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"glosses": [
"A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
],
"links": [
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"deity",
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]
],
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"(historical) A deity or other supernatural being said to have been worshipped by certain West African peoples; an idol."
],
"tags": [
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"historical",
"uncountable"
]
},
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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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any object of superstition; religious words and/or actions which are seen as superstitious or fraudulent."
],
"links": [
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"religion",
"religion"
],
[
"superstition",
"superstition"
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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": [
"countable",
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"lifestyle",
"religion"
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{
"text": "Football lingo is mumbo jumbo to me.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
},
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish."
],
"links": [
[
"nonsense",
"nonsense"
],
[
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"gibberish"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(by extension) Any confusing or meaningless speech; nonsense, gibberish."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "nonsense"
}
],
"tags": [
"broadly",
"countable",
"uncountable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/mʌmbəʊˈdʒʌmbəʊ/"
},
{
"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"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). 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.