malarkey
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of malarkey
An Americanism dating back to 1925–30; origin uncertain
Explanation
Malarkey is ridiculous or meaningless talk. You might feel strongly that your friend's excuses for not coming to your birthday party are just a bunch of malarkey. You can generally use the word malarkey to mean "nonsense" or "hogwash." If you feel like a classmate is using big, impressive words and speaking in a deliberately complicated way to say something relatively simple, you can dismiss it as malarkey. And one political party might be quick to call an opponent's platform pure malarkey. You can also spell it malarky — both versions are an American invention from the 1920s.
Vocabulary lists containing malarkey
Projekt 1065
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Vocabulary Heard at the 2016 Democratic National Convention
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Unfortunately, the statistic was based on a mathematical error and other rank malarkey; in fact, fast-food employment had risen during the period under study.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
In addition to making up pure malarkey, GPT-3 stopped mid-sentence.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2023
“I have two heroes: Bobby Kennedy. … And no malarkey, Dr. King,” Biden told the congregation.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2023
White hair atop his head and lasers shooting from his eyes, he radiates menace and abhors malarkey.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2022
And Hughie says it’s all a bunch of malarkey.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
