garble
/ˈɡɑːb(ə)l
/verb [with object]
Reproduce (a message, sound, or transmission) in a confused and distorted way: (as adjective garbled) garbled directions...
- His voice sounds somewhat garbled in those recordings.
- He called, his voice garbled by the sound of hammering and drilling.
- Canadian voters spoke but, once again, the voting system garbled the message.
Synonyms
mix up, muddle, jumble, confuse, blur, slur, obscure, distort, twist, twist around, warp, misstate, misquote, misreport, misrepresent, mistranslate, misinterpret, misconstrue;
tamper with, tinker with, change, alter, doctor, falsify, pervert, corrupt, adulterate
rare misarticulate, misrender
noun
A garbled account or transmission: most readers assumed the word was a typographical garble [mass noun]: upon winning a race a driver spews out a litany of commercial garble...
- Repeated attempts to contact the Sol System have been met only with static and nonsensical garbles.
- On the surface, the Violettes' debut album follows a well-tested formula for soundscape pop: her delicate voice soaks in a bath of fuzzy guitars, droning cello, and the garble of vocal samples run backward.
- Language is employed as a formative element of the rhythm and music, but all a garble of German phrases, English sentence fragments, hissing, and hiccuping.
Derivatives
garbler
- Chinese translators and Smithsonian Institution label-writers can be garblers.
- Accordingly, he was not the only garbler.
- You should initialize the garbler at the start of your program using the function set garbler that is also provided.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'sift out, cleanse'): from Anglo-Latin and Italian garbellare, from Arabic ġarbala 'sift', perhaps from late Latin cribellare 'to sieve', from Latin cribrum 'sieve'.