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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

garble.

To pick out such parts (of a text) as may serve a purpose not intended by the original author; to mutilate; to pervert.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/
  1. 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 garble an account
  2. To make false by mutilation or addition.

    The editor garbled the story.
  3. To corrupt; to make unreadable, incomprehensible, or unintelligible.

    The announcement was completely garbled.
  4. To sift or bolt; to separate the fine or valuable parts of (something) from the coarse and useless parts, or from dross or dirt.

    obsolete
    to garble spices
Where this word 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”).

noun/ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/
  1. Confused or unintelligible speech.

    countable · uncountable
  2. Refuse; rubbish.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  3. Mutilation.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  4. Impurities separated from spices, drugs, etc.; garblings.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word 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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.