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.
But my most enduring impression of David, beyond all the Santa malarkey, is an email exchange from late September 2022.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 16, 2022
If only there was, like, an essential guide to how this World Cup draw malarkey works.
From The Guardian • Apr. 1, 2022
Before we discuss anything else, can I congratulate you on getting the word malarkey into a song?
From BBC • Oct. 16, 2021
May 9: President Biden announces that malarkey has finally been eradicated from the body politic.
From Washington Post • Jan. 7, 2021
It’s all that World War I malarkey that gets me.
From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles
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.
