JUMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does jumble mean? 

• JUMBLE (noun)
  The noun JUMBLE has 3 senses:

1. a confused multitude of things

2. small flat ring-shaped cake or cookie

3. a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas

  Familiarity information: JUMBLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• JUMBLE (verb)
  The verb JUMBLE has 3 senses:

1. be all mixed up or jumbled together

2. assemble without order or sense

3. bring into random order

  Familiarity information: JUMBLE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• JUMBLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A confused multitude of things

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

clutter; fuddle; jumble; mare's nest; muddle; smother; welter

Hypernyms ("jumble" is a kind of...):

disorder; disorderliness (a condition in which things are not in their expected places)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "jumble"):

rummage (a jumble of things to be given away)

Derivation:

jumble (bring into random order)

jumble (assemble without order or sense)

jumble (be all mixed up or jumbled together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small flat ring-shaped cake or cookie

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

jumbal; jumble

Hypernyms ("jumble" is a kind of...):

cake (baked goods made from or based on a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and fat)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

hodgepodge; jumble; patchwork

Hypernyms ("jumble" is a kind of...):

theory (a belief that can guide behavior)

Derivation:

jumble (bring into random order)

jumble (assemble without order or sense)

jumble (be all mixed up or jumbled together)

• JUMBLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they jumble    ... he / she / it jumbles   
Past simple: jumbled   
Past participle: jumbled   
-ing form: jumbling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be all mixed up or jumbled together

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

jumble; mingle

Context example:

His words jumbled

Hypernyms (to "jumble" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

jumble (a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas)

jumble (a confused multitude of things)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Assemble without order or sense

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

confuse; jumble; mix up

Context example:

She jumbles the words when she is supposed to write a sentence

Hypernyms (to "jumble" is one way to...):

assemble; piece; put together; set up; tack; tack together (create by putting components or members together)

Verb group:

confound; confuse (mistake one thing for another)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "jumble"):

addle; muddle; puddle (mix up or confuse)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

jumble (a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas)

jumble (a confused multitude of things)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Bring into random order

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

jumble; scramble; throw together

Hypernyms (to "jumble" is one way to...):

disarray; disorder (bring disorder to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "jumble"):

tumble (throw together in a confused mass)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

jumble (a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas)

jumble (a confused multitude of things)

 Context examples 

Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative situation.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

There was that jumble in my thoughts and recollections, that I had lost the clear arrangement of time and distance.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And having jumbled her father and the umbrella well together in her reply, Jo slipped out of the room to give Meg a chance to make her speech and air her dignity.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Behind him it stretched away in a mighty curve of many miles, losing itself in a fantastic jumble of mountains, snow-covered and silent.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Their composition, whether of atoms, molecules, grains or cells, do not lie in a neat, orderly pattern, but, instead, are all jumbled up.

(Materials, like metallic glass, can help us understand how cells break, NSF)

To be sure, the charade, with its “ready wit”—but then the “soft eyes”—in fact it suited neither; it was a jumble without taste or truth.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The evidence includes bits of charcoal, jumbles of rock brought in by a tsunami's backflow, and conspicuously absent sulfur.

(Rocks at asteroid impact site record first day of dinosaur extinction, National Science Foundation)

Mrs. Jennings's prophecies, though rather jumbled together, were chiefly fulfilled; for she was able to visit Edward and his wife in their Parsonage by Michaelmas, and she found in Elinor and her husband, as she really believed, one of the happiest couples in the world.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

If I've got some of his wise ideas jumbled up with my romance, so much the better for me.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was with a singular jumble of sadness and pleasure that I used to linger about my native place, until the reddening winter sun admonished me that it was time to start on my returning walk.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)