garble

[ gahr-buhl ]
See synonyms for: garblegarbled on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),gar·bled, gar·bling.
  1. to confuse unintentionally or ignorantly; jumble: to garble instructions.

  2. to make unfair or misleading selections from or arrangement of (fact, statements, writings, etc.); distort: to garble a quotation.

  1. Archaic. to take out the best of.

noun
  1. the act or process of garbling.

  2. an instance of garbling; a garbled phrase, literary passage, etc.

Origin of garble

1
1400–50; late Middle English garbelen to remove refuse from spices <Old Italian garbellare to sift <Arabic gharbala<Late Latin crībellāre, derivative of crībellum, diminutive of Latin crībrum sieve (see -elle); probably influenced by garboil

Other words from garble

  • gar·ble·a·ble, adjective
  • garbler, noun
  • un·gar·bled, adjective

Words Nearby garble

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How to use garble in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for garble

garble

/ (ˈɡɑːbəl) /


verb(tr)
  1. to jumble (a story, quotation, etc), esp unintentionally

  2. to distort the meaning of (an account, text, etc), as by making misleading omissions; corrupt

  1. rare to select the best part of

noun
    • the act of garbling

    • garbled matter

Origin of garble

1
C15: from Old Italian garbellare to strain, sift, from Arabic gharbala, from ghirbāl sieve, from Late Latin crībellum small sieve, from crībrum sieve

Derived forms of garble

  • garbler, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012