mumbo jumbo
Incomprehensible ritualistic language
Mumbo jumbo is language or activity that seems meaningless or deliberately obscure—nonsense dressed up to sound important.
Originally referring to rituals outsiders couldn't understand, it now dismisses anything perceived as empty jargon or pointless ceremony: The contract was full of legal mumbo jumbo.
He dismissed their objections as mumbo jumbo.
Unintelligible speech or writing
- gobbledygookPretentious unintelligible language
- balderdashSenseless talk or writing
- hogwashFoolish or untrue talk
- poppycockFoolish or meaningless talk
drivel · twaddle · claptrap · baloney · bunkum · codswallop · piffle · blather
Fraudulent medical practice
- charlatanismFraudulent claim to skill
- pseudoscienceBogus methodology posing as factual
- snake oilFraudulent cure-all
- fraudIntentional criminal trickery
hoax · sham · fakery · chicanery · flimflam · hocus-pocus · smoke and mirrors · trickery
Spoken magical formula
- chantRepetitive rhythmic phrase
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- riteCeremonial act or practice
- invocationCalling upon higher authority
spell · conjuration · hocus-pocus · abracadabra · voodoo · shaman · fetish · totem
Pretentious unintelligible language
- technobabbleFake scientific-sounding nonsense
- legaleseAttorneys' technical jargon
- bureaucrateseWordy governmental language
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
buzzwords · officialese · obfuscation · verbosity · waffle · circumlocution · equivocation · doubletalk
Impossible to understand
- unintelligibleImpossible to understand
- bafflingImpossible to understand
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
cryptic · opaque · impenetrable · indecipherable · inscrutable · unfathomable · abstruse · obscure
gibberish
Unintelligible speech or writing
- gobbledygookPretentious unintelligible language
- balderdashSenseless talk or writing
- hogwashFoolish or untrue talk
poppycock · drivel · twaddle · claptrap · baloney · bunkum · codswallop · piffle · blather · tommyrot
quackery
Fraudulent medical practice
- charlatanismFraudulent claim to skill
- pseudoscienceBogus methodology posing as factual
- snake oilFraudulent cure-all
fraud · hoax · sham · fakery · chicanery · flimflam · hocus-pocus · smoke and mirrors · trickery · deception
incantation
Spoken magical formula
invocation · spell · conjuration · hocus-pocus · abracadabra · voodoo · shaman · fetish · totem · amulet
gobbledygook
Pretentious unintelligible language
- technobabbleFake scientific-sounding nonsense
- legaleseAttorneys' technical jargon
- bureaucrateseWordy governmental language
doublespeak · buzzwords · officialese · obfuscation · verbosity · waffle · circumlocution · equivocation · doubletalk · newspeak
incomprehensible
Impossible to understand
- unintelligibleImpossible to understand
- bafflingImpossible to understand
- bewilderingCausing utter confusion
convoluted · cryptic · opaque · impenetrable · indecipherable · inscrutable · unfathomable · abstruse · obscure · mystifying
- blatherbabble, balderdash, baloney, blarney, blather
- empty talkidle talk, hot air, idle chatter, drivel, babble
- gibberishgibberish, nonsense, babble, babbling, drivel
- magic wordsabracadabra, alakazam, hocus pocus, presto, open sesame
- nonsensenonsense, absurd, gibberish, gobbledegook, gobbledygook
- rhyming reduplicativesflip flop, hip hop, tip top, zigzag, ping pong
mumbo jumboplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
plain English · clarity · straight talk · plain talk · lucidity
mumbo jumbotruth
Accordance with reality
fact · substance · science · hard facts · empirical data
mumbo jumbosimplicity
Lack of complexity
directness · straightforwardness · brevity · conciseness · economy of words