Word Study
babel
CIDE DICTIONARY
babel, n. [Heb. Bābel, the name of the capital of Babylonia; in Genesis associated with the idea of “confusion.”].
- The city and tower in the land of Shinar, where the confusion of languages took place. [1913 Webster]"Therefore is the name of it called Babel." [1913 Webster]
- Hence: A place or scene of noise and confusion; a confused mixture of sounds, as of voices or languages. [1913 Webster]"That babel of strange heathen languages." [1913 Webster]"The grinding babel of the street" [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
babel, n.
1 a confused noise, esp. of voices.
2 a noisy assembly.
3 a scene of confusion.
1 a confused noise, esp. of voices.
2 a noisy assembly.
3 a scene of confusion.
Idiom
Tower of Babel a visionary or unrealistic plan.
Etymology
ME f. Heb. Babel Babylon f. Akkad. bab ili gate of god (with ref. to the biblical account of the tower that was built to reach heaven but ended in chaos when Jehovah confused the builders' speech: see Gen. 11)
THESAURUS
babel
Aesopian language, Greek, argot, babble, bedlam, cacophony, cant, cipher, clamor, clash, code, confusion of tongues, cryptogram, double Dutch, garble, gibberish, gift of tongues, glossolalia, gobbledygook, harshness, hell, jangle, jar, jargon, jumble, mere noise, noise, pandemonium, racket, scramble, secret language, slang, staticROGET THESAURUS
babel
Language
N language, phraseology, speech, tongue, lingo, vernacular, mother tongue, vulgar tongue, native tongue, household words, King's English, Queen's English, dialect, confusion of tongues, Babel, pasigraphie, pantomime, onomatopoeia, betacism, mimmation, myatism, nunnation, pasigraphy, lexicology, philology, glossology, glottology, linguistics, chrestomathy, paleology, paleography, comparative grammar, literature, letters, polite literature, belles lettres, muses, humanities, literae humaniores, republic of letters, dead languages, classics, genius of language, scholarship, lingual, linguistic, dialectic, vernacular, current, bilingual, diglot, hexaglot, polyglot, literary, syllables govern the world.Neologism
N neology, neologism, newfangled expression, nonce expression, back-formation, caconym, barbarism, archaism, black letter, monkish Latin, corruption, missaying, malapropism, antiphrasis, pun, paranomasia, play upon words, word play, double- entendre, palindrome, paragram, anagram, clinch, abuse of language, abuse of terms, dialect, brogue, idiom, accent, patois, provincialism, regionalism, localism, broken English, lingua franca, Anglicism, Briticism, Gallicism, Scotticism, Hibernicism, Americanism, Gypsy lingo, Romany, pidgin, pidgin English, pigeon English, Volapuk, Chinook, Esperanto, Hindustani, kitchen Kaffir, dog Latin, macaronics, gibberish, confusion of tongues, Babel, babu English, chi-chi, figure of speech, byword, colloquialism, informal speech, informal language, substandard language, vernacular, vulgar language, obscene language, obscenity, vulgarity, jargon, technical terms, technicality, lingo, slang, cant, argot, St. Gile's Greek, thieves' Latin, peddler's French, flash tongue, Billingsgate, Wall Street slang, pseudology, pseudonym, Mr, So-and-so, wha d'ye call 'em, whatchacallim, what's his name, thingummy, thingumbob, je ne sais quoi, neologist, coiner of words, neologic, neological, archaic, obsolete, colloquial, Anglice.Loquacity
N loquacity, loquaciousness, talkativeness, garrulity, multiloquence, much speaking, jaw, gabble, jabber, chatter, prate, prattle, cackle, clack, twaddle, twattle, rattle, caquet, caquetterie, blabber, bavardage, bibble-babble, gibble-gabble, small talk, fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue, flow of words, flux de bouche, flux de mots, copia verborum, cacoethes loquendi, furor loquendi, verbosity, gift of the gab, talker, chatterer, chatterbox, babbler, rattle, ranter, sermonizer, proser, driveler, blatherskite, gossip, magpie, jay, parrot, poll, Babel, moulin a paroles, loquacious, talkative, garrulous, linguacious, multiloquous, largiloquent, chattering, chatty, declamatory, open-mouthed, fluent, voluble, glib, flippant, long tongued, long winded, trippingly on the tongue, glibly, off the reel, the tongue running fast, the tongue running loose, the tongue running on wheels, all talk and no cider, foul whisperings are abroad, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!.Disorder
N disorder, derangement, irregularity, anomaly, anarchy, anarchism, want of method, untidiness, disunion, discord, confusion, confusedness, mishmash, mix, disarray, jumble, huddle, litter, lumber, cahotage, farrago, mess, mash, muddle, muss, hash, hodgepodge, hotch-potch, hotch-pot, imbroglio, chaos, omnium gatherum, medley, mere mixture, fortuitous concourse of atoms, disjecta membra, rudis indigestaque moles, complexity, turmoil, ferment, to-do, trouble, pudder, pother, row, rumble, disturbance, hubbub, convulsion, tumult, uproar, revolution, riot, rumpus, stour, scramble, brawl, fracas, rhubarb, fight, free-for-all, row, ruction, rumpus, embroilment, melee, spill and pelt, rough and tumble, whirlwind, bear garden, Babel, Saturnalia, donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, confusion worse confounded, most admired disorder, concordia discors, Bedlam, all hell broke loose, bull in a china shop, all the fat in the fire, diable a' quatre, Devil to pay, pretty kettle of fish, pretty piece of work, pretty piece of business, disorderly person, disorderly persons offence, misdemeanor, slattern, slut (libertine), disorderly, orderless, out of order, out of place, out of gear, irregular, desultory, anomalous, acephalous, deranged, aimless, disorganized, straggling, unmethodical, immethodical, unsymmetric, unsystematic, untidy, slovenly, dislocated, out of sorts, promiscuous, indiscriminate, chaotic, anarchical, unarranged &c (arrange), confused, deranged, topsy-turvy, shapeless, disjointed, out of joint, troublous, riotous, complex, irregularly, by fits, by fits and snatches, by fits and starts, pellmell, higgledy-piggledy, helter-skelter, harum-scarum, in a ferment, at sixes and sevens, at cross-purposes, upside down, the cart before the horse, hysteron proteron, chaos is come again, the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.Discord
N discord, disagreement, discord, disaccord, dissidence, dissonance, jar, clash, shock, jarring, jostling, screw loose, variance, difference, dissension, misunderstanding, cross purposes, odds, brouillerie, division, split, rupture, disruption, division in the camp, house divided against itself, disunion, breach, schism, feud, faction, quarrel, dispute, tiff, tracasserie, squabble, altercation, barney, demel_e, snarl, spat, towrow, words, high words, wrangling, jangle, brabble, cross questions and crooked answers, snip-snap, family jars, polemics, litigation, strife, warfare, outbreak, open rupture, declaration of war, broil, brawl, row, racket, hubbub, rixation, embroilment, embranglement, imbroglio, fracas, breach of the peace, piece of work, scrimmage, rumpus, breeze, squall, riot, disturbance, commotion, bear garden, Donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, subject of dispute, ground of quarrel, battle ground, disputed point, bone of contention, bone to pick, apple of discord, casus belli, question at issue, vexed question, vexata quaestio, brand of discord, troublous times, cat-and-dog life, contentiousness, enmity, hate, Kilkenny cats, disputant, strange bedfellows, discordant, disagreeing, out of tune, ajar, on bad terms, dissentient, unreconciled, unpacified, contentious, quarrelsome, unpacific, gladiatorial, controversial, polemic, disputatious, factious, litigious, litigant, pettifogging, at odds, at loggerheads, at daggers drawn, at variance, at issue, at cross purposes, at sixes and sevens, at feud, at high words, up in arms, together by the ears, in hot water, embroiled, torn, disunited, quot homines tot sententiae, no love lost between them, non nostrum tantas componere lites, Mars gravior sub pace latet, discord, discordance, dissonance, cacophony, want of harmony, caterwauling, harshness, Babel, Dutch concert, cat's concert, marrowbones and cleavers, discordant, dissonant, absonant, out of tune, tuneless, unmusical, untunable, unmelodious, immelodious, unharmonious, inharmonious, singsong, cacophonous, harsh, jarring.For further exploring for "babel" in Webster Dictionary Online