rubbish
English · Thesaurus
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rubbish
- /ˈɹʌbɪʃ/
Rhymes with -ʌbɪʃ
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English robous (“rubbish, building rubble”), further origin uncertain; possibly from Anglo-Norman rubous, rubouse, rubbouse (“refuse, waste material; building rubble”), and compare Anglo-Latin rebbussa, robousa, robusium, robusum, rubisum, rubusa, rubusium (although the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Latin words may be derived from the English word instead of the other way around, as there are no known Old French cognates of the word). The English word may be related to rubble, though the connection is unclear. Possibly derived ultimately from Old Norse rubba (“to huddle, crowd together, heap up", also possibly "to rub, scrape”), from Proto-Germanic *rubbōną (“to rub, scrape”). Compare Swedish rubba (“to move, displace, dislodge, upset”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
noun rubbishes · rubbage
-
Refuse, waste, garbage, junk, trash.
The rubbish is collected every Thursday in Gloucester, but on Wednesdays in Cheltenham.
Similar: cultch, crap, debris, dreck, drek, garbage, gash, junk, litter, pelf, piece of crap, piece of garbage
-
An item, or items, of low quality.
Much of what they sell is utter rubbish.
Similar: garbage, trash, cheapie, crapola, gash, hunk of junk, load of bull, load of crap, load of shit, piece of crap, piece of garbage, piece of junk
-
Nonsense.
Everything the teacher said during that lesson was rubbish. How can she possibly think that a bass viol and a cello are the same thing?
Similar: absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil, Bandini, baragouin
-
Debris or ruins of buildings; rubble.
That Antichriſt is a man exerciſing a kingdome, the head of the vniuerſall Apoſtaſie, […] the Romane monarchie being diuided and fallen downe, out of the rubbiſhes whereof, he is by litle & litle riſen & increaſed, thorow the power and forcible working of Sathan, […]
Similar: detritus, remains, debris, ruins, rubbish, rubble, wreckage
adjective more rubbish · rubbisher · most rubbish · rubbishest
interjection
- Used to express that something is exceedingly bad, awful, or terrible. - The one day I actually practice my violin, the teacher cancels the lesson. - Aw, rubbish! Though at least this means you have time to play football.
- Used to express that what was recently said is nonsense or untrue; balderdash!, nonsense! Rubbish! I did nothing of the sort!
verb rubbishes · rubbishing · rubbished
- To criticize, to denigrate, to denounce, to disparage. In my judgment, it is not Christian—I think that is the proper way to put it—to rubbish the leaders of our trade union movements, both employers' and workers'. [...] The employers are quite right in rubbishing this section. The recently retired Chief Ombudsman rubbished it. The insurance guild, not
- To litter. Speaking at today's (Tuesday) press conference to announce details of the show, Chairman of the Steering Committee, Mr Cheng Chun-ping urged members of the public to sustain their keep clean efforts and to let the message of the campaign slogan -- "There is never any excuse to rubbish your home" str
Translations
Every language
noun nonsense
| 한국어 | 개털 gaeteol |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | くだらないこと kudaranai koto, ばかばかしいこと bakabakashii koto |
| 中文 | 胡扯 húchě, 瞎掰 xiābāi, 废话 fèihuà |
| Português | besteira, asneira |
| Français | absurdités, inepties |
| Deutsch | Quatsch, Blödsinn, Unsinn, Mist |
| Italiano | corbelleria, cretinata, assurdità |
| Ελληνικά | τρίχες tríches, αηδία aïdía |
| Русский | чепуха́ čepuxá, ерунда́ jerundá, вздор vzdor, чушь čušʹ |
adj exceedingly bad — see also awful
| 日本語 | 屑のような kuzu no yōna, ゴミのような gomi no yōna |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 垃圾 lāji, 爛 /烂 làn |
| Português | horrível |
| Français | pourri |
intj used to express that something is exceedingly bad
| 日本語 | クズ kuzu, ゴミ gomi |
|---|---|
| Português | porcaria |
| Deutsch | Müll |
| Italiano | schifezza, sciocchezza |
| עברית | שטויות shtu'yot |
Talk about this word "rubbish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/rubbish. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. rubbish. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/rubbish "rubbish." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/rubbish.Cite this
@misc{rubbish_2026,
title = {rubbish},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/rubbish},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
