garble

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garble

/ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/

Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)bəl

Where it comes from

From Middle English garbelen, from Anglo-Norman garbeler (“to sift”), from Medieval Latin garbellare (or a similar Italian word), from Arabic غَرْبَلَ (ḡarbala, “to sift”).

verb garbles · garbling · garbled

To pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert. to garble a quotation
To make false by mutilation or addition. The editor garbled the story.
To corrupt; to make unreadable, incomprehensible, or unintelligible. The announcement was completely garbled.
Similar: scramble
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. to garble spices

noun garbles

countable, uncountable Confused or unintelligible speech. The FCC says it decided to attempt standardization of VHF receivers after getting "thousands of complaints" from disgruntled boatmen who found their sets brought in mostly a lot of garble and static.
countable, obsolete, uncountable Refuse; rubbish.
countable, obsolete, uncountable Mutilation. Did not the lady smile upon the garble
countable, obsolete, uncountable Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings.

Translations

Every language

verb to mutilate; to pervert

Français	brouiller, déformer
Deutsch	verstümmeln
Ελληνικά	διαστρέφω diastréfo
Русский	искажа́ть iskažátʹ, искази́ть iskazítʹ, кове́ркать kovérkatʹ, искове́ркать iskovérkatʹ, искривля́ть iskrivljátʹ, искриви́ть iskrivítʹ

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MLA

"garble." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/garble. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

garble. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/garble

Chicago

"garble." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/garble.

BibTeX

@misc{garble_2026,
  title = {garble},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/garble},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}