garbled - Meaning, Image, Examples & Etymology - Learn English Visually

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garbled

|gar-bled|

🇺🇸

/ˈɡɑr.bəld/

🇬🇧

/ˈɡɑː.b(ə)ld/

(garble)

distort or confuse

Base Form	Plural	3rd Person Sing.	Past	Past Participle	Present Participle	Adjective
garble	garbles	garbles	garbled	garbled	garbling	garbled

Etymology

Etymology Information

'garble' originates from Arabic, specifically the word 'gharbal', where it meant 'to sift'.

Historical Evolution

'garble' passed into medieval Romance languages (compare Old French/Provençal 'garbeler', Medieval Latin 'garbellare') and Middle English 'garbelen', eventually becoming the modern English word 'garble'.

Meaning Changes

Initially it meant 'to sift or sort (spices and impurities)', but over time it evolved into its current sense of 'to mix up, corrupt, or distort' (especially of messages or data).

Meanings by Part of Speech

Verb 1

past tense or past participle form of 'garble'. (To distort, confuse, or misrepresent by scrambling, omitting, or altering content.)

The reporter said the quote was garbled in the transcript.

Synonyms

distortedmangledcorrupted

Antonyms

preservedaccurately reported

Adjective 1

mixed up, distorted, or made unintelligible (typically because of interference, corruption, or errors in transmission or processing).

The file arrived garbled and several lines were unreadable.

Synonyms